The government on Tuesday stuck to its Rs 40,000-crore (Rs 400-billion) disinvestment target for the 2011-12 fiscal, with the Finance Ministry asserting that it is weighing several options for public sector unit stake sales despite uncertainty in the stock market.
"There is no reason to dispense with the target of Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion).
"Options have been multifarious and various options have been listed out," Finance Secretary R S Gujral told reporters on the sidelines of the Head of National Drug Law Enforcement Agencies meet in Agra.
The government is considering various options, apart from the public offer route, to achieve the disinvestment target for the fiscal by way of share buy-back, private placement of shares or asking cash-rich PSUs to buy equity in their peers.
"The roadmap, which
"The target of Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) has not been diluted. Clearly, the actual disinvestment is dependent on the market situation," Gujral said.
"If the market situation becomes bad, it would be really unfair that disinvestment should be done in a very bad climate. But markets can improve anytime," he added.
Seven months of the ongoing fiscal are over, but the government has been only able to raise Rs 1,145 crore (Rs 11.45 billion) through a stake sale in Power Finance Corporation and there are apprehensions that it may miss the mammoth Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) target for 2011-12.
Volatile stock markets have forced the government to delay its proposed stake sales in PSUs.
Global equity markets have been on a downslide on fears over the spiralling debt crisis in the euro zone, as well as the credit crunch in the US.
