Govt may sell entire stake in BPCL worth Rs 40,000 cr, IOCL likely suitor

The senior leadership in the government has given its go-ahead to divesting the entire stake

The Centre is planning to offload its entire stake worth a little more than Rs 40,000 crore in Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), most likely to fellow state-owned oil-marketing company Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), a deal that will go a long way in the Narendra Modi government meeting its highest-ever disinvestment target of Rs 1.05 trillion.

If it goes through, an IOCL-BPCL merger will be the third mammoth amalgamation of state-owned companies, excluding banks, in three years — after Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)-Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) in 2017-18 and REC (formerly Rural Electrification Corporation)-Power Finance Corporation (PFC) in 2018-19.