The government has been pushing its plans to divest its stake in many major public sector units (PSUs) to meet its disinvestment target of Rs 1.05 lakh crore for FY19.
Aside from already considering the sale of India's second-largest state refiner, Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL), a group of secretaries have also consented to the strategic stake sale in BEML, Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) and Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), reported The Economic Times.
Additionally, the sale of debt-laden Air India is planned before the end of the financial year 2019-20. An expression of interest (EoI) for Air India is also likely to be issued and cleared over the next fifteen days as per the daily.
Stake sales in the power companies, THDC India and North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO), have also been approved which might be taken over by state-run NTPC. This is likely to bring in around Rs 60,000 or nearly 60 percent of budgeted amount from strategic stake sales as per Business Today figures.
Apart from this, the initial public offer of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp. (IRCTC) is on the final day of the bidding process on October 3.
On September 26, a senior finance ministry official had told PTI that privatisation is the top-most priority and the government will sell "whatever is saleable". As a result, he added, minimum 51 percent government ownership might be breached in select entities.
Therefore, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) will hold inter-ministerial talks to decide if government's stake can be brought below 51 percent in some PSUs.
The government holds around 53.3 percent in BPCL, 54 percent in BEML, 54.8 percent stake in Concor and 73.75 percent stake in SCI as per the Economic Times report.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a disinvestment target to Rs 1.05 lakh crore for the financial year 2019-20. The government has got Rs 12,357.49 crore from the disinvestment proceeds so far.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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