'SAIL, NMDC divestment plans before Cabinet soon

Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh today said the proposals for diluting stake in two state-run companies SAIL and NMDC will soon be taken to the Cabinet for its approval.

"The proposal for disinvestment in SAIL and NMDC will soon reach the Union Cabinet," Virbhadra Singh told reporters here on the sidelines of ICDA Chromium 2009.

The ministry is working closely with the Department of Disinvestment to prepare a draft note likely to be placed before the Cabinet next week.

The steel ministry has already forwarded the share sale plan of the two companies to the Disinvestment Department. The ministry has proposed 20 per cent additional disinvestment plan for steel maker SAIL and extra 8.38 per cent equity sale for iron ore miner NMDC.

Singh said, he is hopeful that the disinvestment process in both navratna firms would be "operationalised" within the current financial year.

The government has proposed a two-phased share sale plan for SAIL which will see the government offloading 10 per cent of its equity to the public and the company selling its shares in the same proportion in the capital market.

At present, the government holds about 85 per cent in SAIL and with the proposed disinvestment it will come down to about 69 per cent. It has about 98.38 per cent stake in NMDC and the planned share sale will bring the holding down to 90 per cent.