Cabinet clears listing of 11 PSUs

Among the PSUs are five railway subsidiaries as well

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved the listing of 11 public sector undertakings, including five railway subsidiaries — Ircon International, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC),  Rail Vikas Nigam, Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) and RITES Ltd.

The plan to list railway subsidiaries IRCTC and IRFC was mooted by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Budget. The Department of Public Asset Management (Dipam) has already initiated the process to fix a consultant for the listing of these two companies.

The non-railway companies approved for listing are Bharat Dynamics (BDL), Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (MDSL), North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO), MSTC Ltd and Mishra Dhatu Nigam (MIDHANI).

The CCEA has also approved reservation of shares for eligible employees of 11 central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) in accordance with the extant provisions of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Regulations. To ensure wider participation by small investors, price discount up to 5 per cent on the issue price has also been approved for retail investors and eligible employees.

The Cabinet also approved signing of a framework of understanding on cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector with Bangladesh. It also cleared a policy to provide purchase preference to all public sector undertakings under the petroleum ministry.

OTHER CABINET DECISIONS

• Special purpose vehicle to be set up to operate government e-marketplace portal to procure goods and services by all government departments and PSUs
• Minimum support price of raw jute increased by Rs 300 a quintal to Rs 3,500 to boost farmers’ income
• Electricity grid interconnection to be set up among BIMSTEC countries
• Rs 2,700-crore claims of exporters to be refunded under an export promotion initiative