This is not her first stint in North Block or in leading a major economic ministry. She started Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first term as minister of state for finance, was made the commerce minister, and then became the defence minister.
A lot of work is needed to be done on the part of the insurance sector behemoth, and the government, before it is ready for its market debut.
At present, the EPFO is mandated to invest 20-45 per cent of its incremental funds - of around Rs 1.5 trillion - in debt-related instruments.
Only NIIF has stayed the course as a viable infrastructure financing institution.
'The government will take proactive steps to see that their participation in the equity market, especially in PSU stocks, is rewarding.'
The department of investment and public asset management is scouting for investment bankers and legal advisors to carry forward the transactions.
The idea is to do away with the need for the approval of the Core Group of Secretaries on Divestment for privatisation of companies, especially in non-strategic sectors.
'In FY21, as of October, LIC has booked a profit of Rs 18,800 crore through sale of equities.'
Re-rating of Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Container Corporation, Shipping Corporation, SAIL, and Hindustan Copper, for which the government has already shown intent to divest its stake, possible now, say analysts.
The main purpose of the meeting is to assess their views on reforms that are required to attract long-term capital into the country.
However, the number of renewals has grown by only 0.4 per cent, which means only high value and ticket size renewals are coming.
The airline's 100 per cent shareholding in profit-making budget carrier Air India Express as well as 50 per cent shareholding in equal joint venture Air India SATS Airport Services would also be sold.
US private equity firm I Squared Capital is dropping out of the race to buy India's second-largest state oil firm, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) owing to a complex deal structure and lack of financial backers for the transaction, sources said. I Squared Capital through its Indian arm, Think Gas was among the three suitors that had evinced interest in buying the government's near 53 per cent shareholding in BPCL. "The company has made a decision not to participate in the financial bidding," a source with direct knowledge of the development said.
India Inc on Thursday pitched for continuation of reforms while ensuring tax and policy stability in the forthcoming Budget to prop up the economy hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the virtual pre-Budget consultation held with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, industry chambers said that government measures will help firmly entrench the nascent signs of recovery being currently seen in private investment. Capital expenditure by the government through enhanced infrastructure spending should in the meantime continue to support growth, CII president TV Narendran said.
Tata Sons has emerged as the top bidder for the takeover of debt-laden State-run airline Air India but the bid is yet to be approved by a group of ministers headed by Home Minister Amit Shah, sources said.
The new owners of Air India will have to retain all the employees of the national carrier for at least one year post which they can offer a VRS. The gratuity, pension fund and post retirement medical benefits of existing and past employees too would be honoured by the new owner, civil aviation secretary Rajiv Bansal said. Tata Sons has emerged as the winning bidder for Air India with the government accepting its Rs 18,000 crore offer to acquire 100 per cent of the debt-laden state-run carrier.
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has increased the size of its shareholders' fund to Rs 6,600 crore from Rs 100 crore in a bid to accommodate a larger shareholder base ahead of its public listing. The size of the fund has been enhanced by retaining two years' of dividend and issuing fresh capital, said an official. Increasing the size of the shareholders' fund will help boost the number of shares for allotment in the insurer's initial public offering (IPO). The corpus represents the amount of equity in a company that belongs to its shareholders.
This is the second highest divestment proceeds in a financial year.
The finance minister was speaking after launching the maiden IDF scheme of IIFCL Mutual Fund in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The divestment target remaining unchanged, from the 2019-20 interim Budget, this year means the Centre will now have to depend on non-tax revenue sources like dividends from the RBI, PSBs and PSUs, as there are real concerns of a tax revenue shortfall. The fiscal deficit target of 3.4% of GDP for 2019-20 is likely to be retained as well.
The IPL uses this system for players' auction.
The government currently holds 87.40 per cent stake in IRCTC. To meet Sebi's public holding norm, it has to lower its stake in the company to 75 per cent.
The government has revised its divestment target downwards from Rs 2.1 trillion, as its ambitious privatisation programme has been deferred to next year.
Centre working on open-ended lease agreement to enablesale of property at the end of the agreement period
Shares reserved for Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIB), including banks and mutual funds in the LIC's public offer were subscribed fully on Monday morning, taking the overall subscription of the issue to a little over 2 times. Against 3,95,31,236 reserved, 4,61,62,185 bids were received, reflecting a subscription of 1.17 times, according to data posted on stock exchanges at 12:12 pm. Non institutional investors' portion was subscribed 1.38 times.
It was not immediately clear when Garg submitted his voluntary retirement scheme application to the government. It was also not known if the government would accept the application. If he hadn't applied for VRS, he would have retired from government service at the end of October 2020 on attaining of 60 years of age. Garg did not answer phone calls seeking his comments.
Though this is part of the divestment drive, government's stake in these companies remains 100 per cent even after the buybacks
If the fiscal deficit for the year can be maintained at Rs 7.04 trillion, the deficit as a percentage of GDP will slip to 3.44 per cent
"Financial bids for Air India disinvestment received by Transaction Adviser. Process now moves to concluding stage," DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey tweeted.
'As the city grows, so do its fire incidents.'
The Centre's push to sell Air India on priority has led to delays in other strategic divestment proposals, such as privatising United India Insurance, as well as ongoing transactions, such as Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), revealed multiple officials involved in the process. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) is yet to take new privatisation recommendations of the NITI Aayog to the core group of secretaries on disinvestment (CGD) headed by the Cabinet secretary, said one of the officials. The priority now is to ensure all approvals for Air India are in place since the government intends to hand over the national carrier as early as this month.
The government on Monday signed the share purchase agreement with Tata Sons for the sale of national carrier Air India for Rs 18,000 crore. Earlier this month, the government had accepted an offer by Talace Pvt Ltd, a unit of the holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate, to pay Rs 2,700 crore cash and take over Rs 15,300 crore of the airline's debt. Following that, on October 11 a Letter of Intenet (LoI) was issued to the Tata Group confirming the government's willingness to sell its 100 per cent stake in the airline.
Merely bringing down the government stake below 51% may not find any taker for the PSBs. The government must bring down its holding to at least 26%, recommends Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Privatisation-bound Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) may sell a part of its stake in Petronet LNG and Indraprastha Gas (IGL) to shed its promoter status to obviate the need for its new owner to make open offers for the two gas companies, sources said. BPCL holds 12.5 per cent of shareholding in India's largest liquefied natural gas importer, Petronet, and a 22.5 per cent stake in city gas retailer, IGL. It is a promoter of both the listed companies and holds board positions. As per the legal position evaluated by Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) - the department running the process for sale of government's entire 52.98 per cent stake in BPCL - the acquirer of BPCL will have to make an open offer to the minority shareholders of Petronet and IGL for acquisition of 26 per cent shares, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.
While presenting her 2021-22 Union Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had set a fiscal deficit target of 6.8 per cent of nominal gross domestic product (GDP) against the 2020-21 Revised Estimate of 9.5 per cent. The fiscal correction in the upcoming 2022-23 Union Budget is unlikely to be that steep. Even as discussions among top Budget-makers are ongoing, the fiscal deficit target for 2022-23 may likely be in the range of 6.5-6.8 per cent.
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) February 8 for the first time ever crossed the Rs 7 trillion market capitalisation, as the stock price of state-owned insurer hit a new high of Rs 1,144,45, on rallying 10 per cent on the BSE. The board of directors of the Corporation are scheduled to meet today i.e. February 8, 2024, to consider a proposal for declaration of interim dividend for the financial year 2023-24 (FY24). The board will also consider and approve the unaudited financial results for the quarter and nine-month period ended on December 31, 2023.
State-owned companies have been set stiff targets to increase accountability as they get ready for divestment. Nikunj Ohri explains why meeting them will be challenging.
India's economic image is not affected due to Adani Group's recent decision to pull out Rs 20,000 crore FPO (follow-on public offers) amid allegations of financial wrongdoings, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday.
'Just the amount of work which is there just to become more and more successful in banking. For this to happen you need to have leaders who understand technology.'
Confirming a meeting with the top management of the Adani Group, Life Insurance Corporation Chairman M R Kumar said on Sunday that the interaction had gone well. "There's nothing I can state as of now on the outcome of that meeting. "But yeah, we've had the meeting....we are quite happy about this meeting," Kumar said on the sidelines of the 22nd Global Conference of Actuaries in New Delhi.
