The government said on Thursday that it would make public offer of 36 lakh (3.6 million) shares in Maruti Udyog Limited in June as part of its divestment in the joint venture car company.

Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, Divestment Minister Arun Shourie said this decision is expected to give a boost to the primary market in India.

Shourie said the government had got a substantial compensation of Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) for passing further control of shares to the Suzuki even though the Japanese car giant had already got the controlling shares.

Shourie recalled that the disinvestment in the car major has been going on since 1984 and already it had become a
majority private company with controlling shares with the Suzuki Corporation of Japan.