The government has reconstituted a high level committee for the disposal of enemy properties that have been left behind by those who migrated and took up citizenship of Pakistan and China.
The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam) has asked ministries, government departments, and public sector undertakings (PSUs) to send a list of assets that can be monetised under the proposed National Monetisation Pipeline. The list will be used for creation of an asset monetisation dashboard, which will keep a track of such assets. The government, meanwhile, has asked CRISIL to prepare a road map for monetising assets of PSUs and government departments.
Salt-to-software conglomerate Tata group was among "multiple" entities who on Monday put in preliminary bids for buying the government's stake in loss-making carrier Air India.
If the proposal gets Cabinet clearance, the disinvestment is likely to follow the initial public offering of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, for which the prospectus has already been filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
An announcement has barred the entry of journalists in the finance ministry.
The government has merged the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) with the finance ministry to give it a better control over state-owned firms and facilitate its ambitious privatisation programme. Finance ministry will now have six departments while DPE's hereto parent ministry, the ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises will now be called the ministry of heavy industries. Previously, the disinvestment ministry - created under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government - was merged with the finance ministry and is now a department under it. Also, Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) was abolished and administration of foreign investments was given to the finance ministry (FinMin).
Market remains extremely volatile before budget.
The sale is key to meeting the government's disinvestment target of Rs 2.1 trillion in the financial year 2020-21. So far, the disinvestment exercise has fetched the government Rs 34,845 crore during the current financial year.
The government will press ahead with the sale of public sector companies that have been approved by the Cabinet, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday. Highlighting that FDI flow into India is much higher compared to other emerging economies, she said India's strong macroeconomic fundamentals, ability to do reforms and a stable government help attract long-term foreign funds into Indian businesses.
Domestic capital market will see the launch of India's largest-ever initial public offering (IPO) next week. Life Insurance Corporation of India's (LIC's) landmark Rs 21,000-crore IPO will open for subscription on Wednesday. Here's a look at some unique features of this mega offering, which are not typically seen in other IPOs.
After more than two decades and three attempts, the government has finally sold its flagship national carrier Air India, and it is deja vu for Maharaja as it returned home to its founding father the Tata group. Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy (JRD) Tata founded the airline in 1932 and named it Tata Airlines. In 1946, the aviation division of Tata Sons was listed as Air India, and in 1948, the Air India International was launched with flights to Europe. The international service was among the first public-private partnerships in India, with the government holding 49 per cent, the Tatas keeping 25 per cent and the public owning the rest. In 1953, Air India was nationalised and for the next over four decades it remained the prized possession for India controlling the majority of the domestic airspace.
This is the second highest divestment proceeds in a financial year.
The government on Thursday permitted 100 per cent foreign investment under the automatic route in oil and gas PSUs which have received in-principle approval for strategic divestment. The move would facilitate privatisation of India's second biggest oil refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL). The government is privatising BPCL and selling its entire 52.98 per cent stake in the company.
The Department of Disinvestment, which is the nodal department for carrying out PSU stake sale, will finalise the cabinet note after appointment of asset management companies to handle PSU ETF.
As on December 31, government stake in IndianOil stood at 78.92 per cent.
Revenue from divestment has fetched Rs 40,000-50,000 crore against target of Rs 2.10 trillion.
According to officials, more clarity might be required with regard to foreign fund managers in the context of Air India divestment.
The government is looking to sell shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) held through Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI) and is soon going to appoint an intermediary to manage it. The plan is to sell about 8 lakh shares of RIL that will help the government garner around Rs 180 crore. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) will appoint an intermediary that will act as a custodian of these shares. The intermediary, based on its market analysis, will offload these shares at the best price, said an official. A final approval on the proposal is expected soon.
The government at present holds 87.15 per cent stake in the navratna firm.
The Department of Disinvestment in the Finance Ministry will hire an advertising or public relation agency for the purpose.
After the government sought Parliament's nod for a second batch of supplementary demand for grants that will cause a hit of Rs 2.99 trillion to the exchequer, doubts suddenly arose about the government's ability to meet the Budget projections of reining in its fiscal deficit at 6.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), or Rs 15.06 trillion, for the current financial year. Till now, many were of the opinion that the government would succeed in checking the deficit at a much lower figure than what was given in the Budget Estimates (BE). The government had sought Parliament's approval to spend Rs 3.74 trillion extra, but Rs 74,517.01 crore will be matched by equal savings on other heads.
For next fiscal, the minority stake sale target has been kept at Rs 36,000 crore.
"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.
There is money to buy the central public sector enterprises, but buyers will need a firm assurance that the disvestment programme will keep environment issues front and centre of their corporate plans.
While the Union Cabinet had in November last year approved the sale of the government's entire 52.98 per cent stake in BPCL, offers seeking expression of interest (EoI), or bids showing interest in buying its stake, were invited only on March 7. The EoI submission deadline was May 2, but on March 31 it was extended up to June 13. On Wednesday, the government said this deadline is further being extended up to July 31.
Govt looks at more taxes, dividends to meet deficit target.
PSU employees will now get an option to subscribe up to 5 per cent of the issue size at a discount after the completion of disinvestment in the concerned state-owned company.
The Department of Disinvestment, which is looking at mopping up Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) from the sale of shares in public sector units this fiscal, has raised about Rs 1,325 crore (Rs 13.25 billion) so far.
Govt has drawn list of PSUs for strategic sale: Jaitley
Bureaucrats heading disinvestment and financial services usually don't get appointed as finance secretary.
Encouraged by response of foreign investors to PSU stake sale, the government is proposing to raise the disinvestment target to Rs 40,000 crore in the next financial year by selling equity in 20 companies.
The Department of Disinvestment will soon appoint merchant bankers to manage 10 per cent stake sale in Engineers India which may fetch Rs 520 crore to the exchequer.
The company has already received the coal ministry's nod to reduce the face value of its shares to Rs 10 from Rs 1,000 at present.
As many as 10 merchant bankers, including ICICI Securities and SBI Cap, had evinced interest in managing the stake sale.
The merchant bankers are required to submit their application by December 14.
The commerce ministry has consented to 10 per cent disinvestment in MMTC that can fetch the government Rs 17,000 crore (Rs 170 billion)at present valuation.
Government can announce the decision as soon as Thursday.
The steel ministry has sent the proposal to sell 10 per cent of the government's holding in state-run Manganese Ore India Ltd to the Department of Disinvestment, Parliament was told on Friday.
A senior official from the Department of Disinvestment told Business Standard it was decided in a meeting on Thursday that the fresh date for RINL's IPO would be in the third or fourth week of July.
"Financial bids for Air India disinvestment received by Transaction Adviser. Process now moves to concluding stage," DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey tweeted.
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