Govt sets floor price for up to $275 million SAIL share sale

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The government has set the floor price for the sale of a 5 percent stake in Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) at 83 rupees per share, through which it hopes to raise up to 17 billion rupees ($275 million), an official said on Thursday.

The government will give a discount of 5 percent to retail investors in the offering, a senior finance ministry official said, adding the government expected to raise 15-17 billion rupees from the sale. The official declined to be named as the information is not yet public.

The SAIL offering on Friday will kick off the Narendra Modi-led government's ambitious disinvestment programme, under which it aims to plug the budget deficit by raising about $9.5 billion through stake sales by March 2015.

 

($1 = 61.8925 rupees)

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar in New Delhi; Writing by Aman Shah; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)