Govt nears completion of strategic sale of Dredging Corp

The government is nearing completion of strategic sale of Dredging Corporation of India to a consortium of four ports, a move which would help it meet the Rs 80,000 crore disinvestment target set for the current fiscal.

"Dredging Corporation transaction is nearing completion as financial bids have been finalised. The next step is signing of share purchase agreement post which the money would come into exchequer," an official said.

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

Shares of Dredging Corp were up 4.36 per cent at Rs 401 on the BSE.

The cabinet, in November last year, had approved strategic sale of government stake in DCIL to a consortium of four ports -- Vishakhapatnam Port Trust, Paradeep Port Trust, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and Kandla Port Trust.

With ports increasingly diversifying into dredging, the move would further facilitate the linkage of dredging activities with the ports. The co-sharing of facilities between DCIL as well as ports is expected to lead to savings for ports.

The government has budgeted to raise Rs 80,000 crore from CPSE disinvestment in current fiscal.

It has already raised about Rs 36,000 crore from issue of exchange traded funds (ETFs), IPOs and share buybacks. In September last year, NBCC was selected to buy out 100 per cent government stake in consultancy firm HSCC for Rs 285 crore.