Govt to sell up to 4.92% stake in utility company SJVN from Thursday

The Indian government will sell an up to a 4.92% stake in utility company SJVN Ltd this week, a stock exchange filing showed on Wednesday.

It said plans to sell the 4.92% stake included selling 2.46% if the sale is oversubscribed.

The floor price for the sale has been set at 69 rupees, a roughly 15.6% discount to the stock's closing price on Wednesday. The federal government owns 59.92% equity in the state-run hydropower generation company, and the northern state of Himachal Pradesh owns 26.85%.

The sale of the federal government's 4.92% in the state-run hydro power generation firm could earn it about 13.34 billion rupees ($160.81 million).

The Indian government has so far raised 56 billion rupees through stake sales in state-run firms in the fiscal year 2023/24 compared with a target of 510 billion rupees.

The SJVN sale will help the government to achieve the minimum public shareholding set out by the capital market regulator, the exchange filing said.

Minimum public shareholding norms require listed companies maintain an at least 25% public shareholding.