NEW DELHI: The government has extended indefinitely the cut-off date for submission of bids for its stake in Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), according to multiple people aware of the matter. The due date was earlier January 18.

Qualified bidders are said to have requested for more time to do due diligence on the vessel operator, these people said.

The bidders have not been able to carry out physical inspection of ships, according to the people cited earlier.

SCI's ships have been sailing offshore and not all of them have been available for inspection in India.

Another cause for the delay in the bidding process is the ongoing demerger of the company's non-core assets, according to one of the sources cited earlier. "The demerger process is taking longer than anticipated," an executive familiar with the matter said.