Cabinet clears strategic sale of government stake in Dredging Corporation

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the strategic sale of government stake in Dredging Corporation of India to a consortium of four ports.

The government currently holds 73.44 per cent in Dredging Corporation of India Ltd (DCIL).

"CCEA has given in principle approval for strategic disinvestment of 100 per cent Government of India's share in DCIL to consortium of 4 ports, namely Vishakhapatnam Port Trust, Paradeep Port Trust, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and Kandla Port Trust," an official tweet said.

The approval will further facilitate the linkage of dredging activities with the ports, keeping in view the role of the DCIL in expansion of dredging activity in the country as well as potential diversification of ports into third-party dredging, the tweet said after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The co-sharing of facilities between the company as well as ports shall lead to savings for ports. This would further provide opportunities for larger investment in DCIL as integration with ports shall help in effective vertical linkage in the value chain," the tweet added.

The government has budgeted to raise Rs 800 billion from PSU disinvestment. So far this financial year, the government has mopped up over Rs 150 billion from PSU stake sale.