Cabinet to consider setting up of women's bank, NHPC divestment

The Cabinet is likely to take up during its Thursday meet proposals to set up a women’s bank with an initial corpus of Rs 1,000 crore and divestment of 11 per cent of government stake in NHPC. The bank, proposed in this year's Budget, would provide dedicated financial services to women in general and women self-help groups in particular.      

Separately in the Rajya Sabha, minister of state for finance Namo Narain Meena said the government is planning to seek Parliament’s nod for allocation of funds to set up the bank.

“It is proposed to solicit the approval of the Cabinet to include the allocation of Rs 1,000 crore to the women's bank in the first supplementary to be approved in the current monsoon session of Parliament,” he said in a written reply in the upper house.

The proposed bank is likely to be operational by November this year.

The Cabinet might also consider a proposal to divest 11.4 per cent of government stake in NHPC which could fetch the exchequer Rs 1,850 crore. The share of NHPC closed down three per cent to settle at Rs 15.05 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

The government currently has 86.4 per cent equity holding in the company and the issue is not part of SEBI’s minimum public holding norm. The government has set a target to mop up Rs 40,000 crore from disinvestment this financial year.