India yet to decide on dates for key asset sales - official

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has yet to decide on the dates for selling a 10 percent stake in state-controlled Coal India and 5 percent in Oil and Natural Gas Corp , a government official said after a meeting with the finance minister on Tuesday.

The stake sales are crucial for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to hit its ambitious budget targets. Asset sales are already running behind schedule, pressuring a deficit target of 4.1 percent of GDP for the fiscal year to March.

The Coal India sale may be done in two tranches of 5 percent each, said the official who declined to be named before an announcement. The offering for shares of the world's largest coal miner could fetch a third of the government's $9.5 billion annual divestment target for this fiscal year.

 

The official said the government was monitoring market conditions to finalise dates for the sales. The government is also looking to sell 5 percent of Steel Authority of India Ltd .

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar; Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Mark Potter)