Centre To Speed Up Cmc, Nfl, Ibp Selloff

Apart from Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), the Centre has decided to put three other public sector companies - infotech major CMC, National Fertiliser (NFL) and oil marketing company IBP -- on the fast-track mode for disinvestment during the current fiscal.

Secretary of disinvestment Pradip Baijal said : "We are trying our best to meet the disinvestment mop-up target for the year. Hence, the decision to speed up the process in these PSUs." The government has fallen far short of its divestment target for the last two years.

"These companies are already facing stiff competition. Unless we allow the private sector to take charge at the earliest, their valuations are likely to fall further," he said.

 

In the case of VSNL, for example, the stock plummeted from a high of around Rs 1,800 a share to Rs 360 this week.

Baijal, however, did not reveal any specific time-frame within which the government will complete the privatisation of the three PSUs. The three undertakings have gone past the expression of interest stage, with an array of domestic and multinational companies having evinced interest in the sell-off.