The government will soon finalise the roadmap to raise a whopping Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) through disinvestment during the current fiscal. It will include sale of equity in blue chip companies like SAIL and ONGC.
"Cabinet has so far given approval for the disinvestment of four state-run firms - PFC, SAIL, ONGC and HCL. We are in talks with various ministries and working on a roadmap that should be finalised by June-end," Department of Disinvestment additional secretary Siddharth Pradhan said.
Exuding confidence that DoD would be able to achieve the Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) target for the current fiscal, he said by way of share sales of the identified four PSUs through follow -on offers, a little over Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion) was expected to be garnered.
The government has already raised Rs 1,162 crore (Rs 11.62 billion) by divesting five per cent stake in Power Finance Corporation in May.
The follow-on public offer of SAIL is likely to hit the market next month and ONGC in July. Share sale programme of Hindustan Copper (HCL) is yet to take a concrete shape.
When asked about the potential PSUs that could hit the market this fiscal, Pradhan while refusing to divulge details, maintained that his department was in touch with Steel, Mines, Heavy Industries and Petroleum & Natural Gas Ministries for identifying the companies.
The government, according to sources, have already identified RINL, MMTC and NBCC for stake sale and would be required to add more companies to the list to achieve Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) target during 2011-12.
The government had proposed a disinvestment target of Rs 95,000 crore (Rs 950 billion) from sale of shares in public sector companies over the next three fiscals, including Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) in the current fiscal.
Against the same Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) target set for the last fiscal, the government is estimated to have raised only Rs 22,400 crore (Rs 224 billion) by way of disinvestment in PSU companies.
The gap could have been bridged a little more had the movement of the market not been topsy-turvy towards the end of the last fiscal.
Currently, the total receipts stand at Rs 99,738.92 crore (Rs 997.38 billion) from the government's various disinvestment programmes, ever since they begun in the financial year 1991-92, as per the data available with the Department of Disinvestment.
The government's disinvestment policy states that the government has to retain majority shareholding of at least 51 per cent and management control of the PSUs.
The policy also calls for listing of unlisted CPSEs with no accumulated losses and having earned net profit in three preceding consecutive years.
