Govt eyes Rs 35,000 cr from PSU stake sale

The government is planning to divest stake in seven state-owned companies that are listed on the stock exchanges. This could fetch the exchequer about Rs 35,000 crore, nearly half of the financial year 2017-18 (FY18) disinvestment target of Rs 72,500 crore.

The finance ministry’s Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam) has issued formal requests for proposals for legal advisors and merchant bankers for the stake sale, through the offer-for-sale route. The seven companies are NHPC, NTPC, Power Finance Corporation, Rural Electrification Corporation, Steel Authority of India, NLC India, and Indian Oil.

The proposal is to divest 10 per cent stake in NHPC, NTPC, Power Finance Corporation and Sail, 15 per cent in NLC, five per cent in Rural Electrification Corporation and three per cent in Indian Oil. At current share prices, these sales would fetch Rs 35,342 crore.

Dipam also plans to allow employees of these companies be a part of the offer-for-sale.

Of FY18’s total disinvestment budgeted estimate, Rs 45,000 crore is expected from offer for stake sales, initial public offerings (IPOs) and buybacks, Rs 15,000 crore from strategic sales and Rs 11,000 crore from listing of five state-owned general insurers.

Earlier this week, Dipam also set in motion the process of listing through IPOs of Bharat Dynamics, Garden Reach Shipbuilders, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, Mishra Dhatu Nigam, North Eastern Electric Power Corporation and MSTC.