Rs 45,000 cr to be generated through divestment

The Centre aims to raise a minimum Rs 45,000 crore within a year by divesting stake in about half-a-dozen public sector units to pump funds into social and infrastructure sectors, a senior government official said today.

"Efforts are on to raise at least Rs 45,000 crore by offloading shares in several PSUs in a year's time for investment in education, health and other social sectors," Sidhartha Pradhan, Additional Secretary in the Department of Disinvestment in Union Finance Ministry, told reporters here.

The government in the Budget for 2010-11 had proposed to raise around Rs 40,000 crore through divestment this fiscal. It has mopped up over Rs 1,000 crore by divesting stake in Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam, and around Rs 1,000 crore through Engineers India FPO.

At least six schemes, including the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY), National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme, would be funded by the money generated thus, he said.

Describing disinvestment as a worldwide phenomenon, Pradhan said the government requires huge resources for funding different schemes and welfare programmes in the social sector which can be generated by divesting stake in PSUs.

Funds are also required for infrastructure development, technological modernisation and rural development, he said.

While CIL's IPO seeks to generate at least Rs 15,000 crore, there are proposals of Rs 8,000 crore through public offer of equities in Powergrid Corporation, Rs 22,000 crore in Indian Oil Corporation, Rs 4,000 in SAIL and Rs 10,000 in ONGC, he said.

The government had raised Rs 25,000 crore through stake sale in Oil India, NMDC, REC and NTPC in the last fiscal.