Former managing director of Maruti Suzuki India, Jagdish Khattar, passed away on Monday morning following a cardiac arrest, according to people close to him. Khattar (79), a former bureaucrat, was considered as one of the most high profile leaders of the Indian automotive industry, laying the foundation for Maruti's future growth after the government began its disinvestment in 2002 and gradually exited from its joint venture with Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC). He had joined the then Maruti Udyog Ltd in July 1993 as director (marketing) and went on to become executive director (marketing) in the next six years.
Government has targeted to garner about Rs 56,500 crore through selling its stake in PSUs.
After a hiatus of nearly two decades, the government's programme to privatise state-owned firms restarted with the handing over of debt-laden national carrier Air India to the Tata Group. With the new owner shelling out Rs 18,000 crore for the buyout of the 'Maharaja', this would be the highest-ever amount garnered through privatisation, and is even more than the cumulative sum mopped up through strategic sales from 1999-00 to 2003-04. The government had in October last year inked the share purchase agreement with the Tata Group for sale of national carrier Air India for Rs 18,000 crore. Tatas would pay Rs 2,700 crore cash and take over Rs 15,300 crore of the airline's debt.
The CIL disinvestment has been hanging fire because of opposition from the trade unions. Mayaram's statement that the coal major will have to pay a higher dividend comes as the government makes efforts to meet its Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) disinvestment target.
As on December 31, government stake in IndianOil stood at 78.92 per cent.
Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) K V Subramanian on Tuesday exuded confidence that India would achieve double-digit growth in the current financial year on the back of policy initiatives and continuing reforms. He also said the country is well poised to meet the fiscal deficit target of 6.8 per cent of GDP. "At this stage, I can say confidently that we should be able to achieve that fiscal deficit number. "Any shortfalls that might happen on the disinvestment side will also be accompanied by positive surprises that have happened on tax revenue," he told reporters.
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 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.
With the new owner shelling out Rs 18,000 crore for the buyout of 'Maharaja' this would be the highest ever amount garnered through privatisation or even the cumulative sum garnered through strategic sale in 1999-00 to 2003-04. The government had garnered roughly over Rs 5,000 crore during that five-year period by privatising 10 CPSEs.
A group of 219 employees of Air India along with a private financial institution have submitted an expression of interest (EOI) for the national carrier.
Govt looks at more taxes, dividends to meet deficit target.
The Delhi high court on Thursday dismissed BJP leader Subramanian Swamy's plea seeking to set aside the Air India divestment process on the allegation that the methodology adopted by the government in the valuation of the national carrier was "arbitrary, illegal and against public interest". The order was passed by a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh. The court said a detailed order will be uploaded. "Dr. Subramanian Swamy, sir we are dismissing this matter...," the bench said.
It was one of the toughest times in history to announce a budget, says Harsh Goenka, chairman of RPG Enterprises.
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.
The floor price for the issue would be decided after the close of the equity market tomorrow.
The government on Friday cleared disinvestment in two bluechip state-owned companies IOC and Bhel, which would fetch over Rs 7,300 crore (Rs 73 billion) to the exchequer in the current fiscal.
The IOC share sale is the fourth disinvestment this fiscal but the biggest in 2015-16 so far.
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.
However, disinvestment secretary Sumit Bose said right now there is nothing on the cards.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the government has no business to be in business and his administration is committed to privatising all PSUs barring the bare minimum in four strategic sectors. "It is government's duty to support enterprises and businesses. But it is not essential that it should own and run enterprises," he said. Modi also said the Centre's policy is to either monetise or modernise public sector enterprises, with the intent that the government has "no business to be in business".
Move aimed at boosting retail investor participation in disinvestment.
The Dipam will work under Finance Ministry.
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 state of these public sector units is appalling and disinvestment or even closing some of them appears to be the only option to prevent exchequer from further bleeding.
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 government at present holds 87.15 per cent stake in the navratna firm.
The government is also planning to replace the current ageing Air India One or Boeing 747 with Boeing 777s. Arup Roychoudhury and Archis Mohan report.
Going by the experience of the previous years -- when the actual proceeds from stake sale were much lower than the targets -- the government's disinvestment target for 2014-15 appears too ambitious.
The timeline for disinvestment of Air India and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) may be pushed by two to three months due to impact of the second Covid-19 wave. However, the government is confident of wrapping up the sale of the two companies by FY22 and meeting the disinvestment target of Rs 1.75 trillion. This will be achieved by sale of government stake in core and non-core public sector undertakings (PSUs).
This demand comes at a time when the government is falling short of its revenue targets due to dwindling tax and low disinvestment receipts. It could account for the dividend in the upcoming Union Budget on February 1. RBI is, however, yet to take a final call on the government's demand and might decide on this at its central board meeting scheduled for February 15 in New Delhi.
Referring to disinvestment in National Hydel Power Corporation and the Oil India Limited, Mitra said while the enterprise value of NHPC rose from Rs 18,280 crore (Rs 182.8 billion) to Rs 37,702 crore (Rs 377.02 billion) after listing, that of Oil India Limited rose from Rs 9,844 crore (Rs 98.44 billion) to Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion).
An announcement has barred the entry of journalists in the finance ministry.
The finance ministry on Wednesday allowed all private sector banks to participate in government-related business, like collection of taxes. pension payments and small savings schemes. At the moment, only few large private sector are allowed to conduct government-related business.
Earlier, President Pratibha Patil while spelling out the government's polices had said in her address to joint sitting of Parliament that "our fellow citizens have every right to own part of the shares of public sector companies, while the government retains majority shareholding control".
They, however, called off their nationwide strike
As much as 9 crore shares will be sold over two days, with institutional investors getting to bid on the first day and retail ones getting a chance on Friday.
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.
"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.
The share of public sector undertakings (PSUs) in the total market capitalisation of listed companies--at an all-time low of 10 per cent currently --- may get a leg-up from the government's divestment push. Recently the government announced the successful sale of national carrier Air India to Tata Sons, India's first privatisation of a PSU since 2002-03. The transaction is expected to be completed by December.
As per Sebi norms, a public sector listed company should have 10 per cent public float by August 08, 2013.
