Govt may sell stake in 15 PSUs
The government is considering stake sale in as many as 15 state-owned companies including bluechips like BHEL, SAIL and Oil India in the current fiscal with a view to garnering an estimated Rs 20,000 crore.
Apart from the major companies already on the government radar, the Department of Disinvestment is also mulling 10 per cent stake sale in Engineers India, which could yield the exchequer about Rs 790 crore, Finance Ministry sources said.
In addition, the government is also planning 12.5 per cent stake sale of Rashtriya Chemicals Limited which would help the exchequer garner Rs 380 crore.
The disinvestment of Andrew Yule, too, is on the card and may yield an estimated Rs 65 crore, sources said.
According to the broad roadmap prepared by the Finance Ministry, 10 per cent stake sale is being considered in companies like NALCO, NHPC, NMDC, MOIL and Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL).
While stake sale in NMDC is expected to yield an estimated Rs 6,000 crore, NHPC may fetch Rs 230 crore and MOIL, Rs 395 crore.
The Department of Disinvestment has already moved a cabinet note for 10 per cent stake sale in NALCO, which could fetch the exchequer around Rs 12,000 crore, based on current market price.
In case of Hindustan Copper, while the government would divest a 10 per cent stake, the company would come out with a fresh issue of 10 per cent.
Similarly, for SAIL, alongside a 5 per cent stake sale, the company would also come out with a fresh issue of equal quantum of shares.
The 5 per cent stake sale in BHEL is estimated to fetch around Rs 3,000 crore.
The government in the budget for 2012-13 proposed to raise Rs 30,000 crore in the current fiscal from sale of its equity in PSUs.
According to the disinvestment plan, the government has planned to sell stake in RINL through an initial public offer (IPO).
The RINL issue, was slated to hit the domestic market on July 3 and kick-start the ambitious disinvestment process of the government for the current fiscal. However, on account of volatile market conditions, the government had to delay the Rs 2,500-crore IPO of RINL by at least three weeks.
Last fiscal, due to volatile market conditions, the government had to postpone the sell-off process and could raise only Rs 14,000 crore against a target of Rs 40,000 crore.
