Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is taking to the Cabinet a major disinvestment plan. On the block are shares in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Steel Authority of India (Sail), Coal India Ltd (CIL), Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC). The proposals also include and Initial Public Offer for Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd.
The Department of Disinvestment kick-started the process of the 5 per cent stake sale in ONGC on Wednesday. It invited bids for the appointment of merchant bankers for managing the share sale on its website. The UPA Government had sold a 5 per cent stake in ONGC in 2012 for Rs. 14,000 crore. State-owned LIC had picked up 95 per cent of the total shares on the block for over Rs. 12,000 crore.
The Finance Ministry estimates that the sales in the already listed Public Sector Units (PSUs) will raise Rs. 43,000 crore. Of this, 5 per cent disinvestment in ONGC alone will fetch Rs. 18,000 crore and 10 per cent stake sale in CIL will rake in at least Rs. 25,000 crore, top Ministry sources told The Hindu . Then, the Finance Ministry expects to raise an additional Rs. 15,000 crore from the sale of the Centre’s residual stakes in Hindustan Zinc Ltd and Balco — the PSUs in which strategic stakes were earlier sold to private investors, the sources said.
The Finance Ministry plans to seek the Cabinet’s nod for these proposals within the next one to two months, the sources said. In most cases, the stake sales will be completed through Offers for Sales conducted via e-auctions on the stock exchanges, the sources added. The Finance Ministry plans to complete the proposed disinvestments within the next three months.
