India wants NALCO to buy back shares from govt worth Rs 3,250 crore

Move by govt comes at a time when its plans to raise $10 billion from asset sales is falling short of targets

The finance ministry wants state-run NALCO to buy back 25% of its shares from the government worth Rs 3,250 crore ($481 million), a senior government official told Reuters, as the government's plans to raise about $10 billion from asset sales fall way short of targets.

“The market scenario for divestments is not good,” Mines Secretary Balvinder Kumar said on Monday. "NALCO had already agreed to buy back 10% but their board will now decide whether to purchase more."

Last week, the finance ministry wrote to the mines ministry, which controls the government's 89% holding in NALCO, seeking help to raise more much-needed funds. The government has managed to raise less then a fifth of the roughly $10 billion it had projected in divestments for 2015-2016.

A finance ministry spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.