BPCL disinvestment process slows down due to pandemic, LIC IPO: Report

The disposal may only take place as soon as early next year rather than in 2020, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private

India’s plan to sell a majority stake in the country’s second-biggest state refiner has slowed down amid the coronavirus pandemic and other government initiatives such as the initial public offering of the nation’s biggest insurer, according to people familiar with the matter.

The discussions with investors on the stake sale of Bharat Petroleum Corp., from which the government could fetch about $6.9 billion, haven’t progressed much recently, the people said. The disposal may only take place as soon as early next year rather than in 2020, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is