India raises $186 million from NALCO share sale, kicks off FY18 asset sale process

REUTERS - India raised 12 billion rupees ($185.7 million) from a 9.2 percent stake sale in state-run National Aluminium Co (NALCO), the government said on Thursday, kicking off its asset sale programme for the new financial year.

The finance ministry aims to raise a total 725 billion rupees through sale of government stakes in state-run and private sector companies to help lower its deficit.

It raised a record 462.47 billion rupees last financial year from asset sales.

The NALCO share sale was oversubscribed 1.43 times, with strong participation from both institutions and retail investors, according to a government statement.

After the sale, government holding in NALCO has come down to 65.37 percent, it said.

 

($1 = 64.6100 rupees)

(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)