Finance Ministry officials are engaging in hectic parleys with the PSUs to speed up the process so that the disinvestments can take place in the December and March quarters.
The move is expected to encourage brokers to sell issues, which have not received a very encouraging response so far.
The government on Monday budgeted Rs 1.75 lakh crore from stake sale in public sector companies and financial institutions, including 2 PSU banks and one general insurance company, in the next fiscal year beginning April 1. The amount is lower than the record Rs 2.10 lakh crore which was budgeted to be raised from CPSE disinvestment in the current fiscal year. However, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the government's CPSE stake sale programme, and the target has been lowered to Rs 32,000 crore in the Revised Estimates.
A host of companies have been lined up by the disinvestment department as candidates for stake sale.
The government is bullish on Coal India and ONGC's stake sale programme which are to be held soon.
The government's disinvestment programme is set to get a boost this Diwali, with the finance ministry planning to hit the market to sell a five per cent stake in Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) by October.
The government had last sold 5 per cent stake in ONGC in 2012 for Rs 14,000 crore (Rs 140 billion).
For next fiscal, the minority stake sale target has been kept at Rs 36,000 crore.
Ahead of the Budget, the government has achieved almost half the divestment target of Rs 65,000 crore. FY23 divestment receipts are unlikely to be anywhere close to the budgeted target.
The department of investment and public asset management is scouting for investment bankers and legal advisors to carry forward the transactions.
The government is keen to divest stake in PSU firms .
The government's austerity drive announced on Thursday , would lead to a saving of up to Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) or 0.3 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but poses risks to growth, Japanese brokerage Nomura has said.
Jaitley's team presents a quintessential mix of foreign-educated, intellectual technocrats and seasoned bureaucrats
The appointments committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared Bhalla's appointment as OSD in the ministry with immediate effect.
The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has named Ravneet Kaur, a Punjab cadre IAS officer of 1988 batch, as chairperson of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Kaur will hold the post for five years or until attaining the age of 65. She is the second woman to serve in an 'economic regulator' role after Madhabi Puri Buch, who was appointed chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India last year and the first woman to head the country's chief national competition regulator.
The list is of companies declared sick as on March 31, 2014.
Probable reasons that led to failure of the sale process include 24 per cent government stake and corresponding rights, high debt, volatile crude oil prices, fluctuations in exchange rate, changes in macro environment, profitability track record of bidders and restriction on bidding by individuals.
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.
Arun Jaitley will aim for jumps in other revenue streams for the government.
The Budget chose to stick to an ambitious disinvestment programme for 2016-17.
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.
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 term of the last chairman of the pension regulator, Yogesh Agarwal, was cut short by the finance ministry in November.
One crucial revenue source that can help the government achieve its fiscal-deficit target is the proceeds from the sale of its stakes in public sector companies.
After the April-July fiscal deficit data was released on August 31, several analysts hinted that the government may need to go for cuts in capital expenditure to meet the fiscal deficit target.
'In a serious fiscal situation like this, an ostrich-like focus on annual budgeting, event management and defensive rhetoric will only make matters worse,' warns Rathin Roy.
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.
Finance ministry tells PM fiscal deficit target will be met, capex expenditure won't be cut and GDP growth will surpass 7.5%.
For first time in 8 yrs, stake sale proceeds could exceed Budget Estimates. ONGC's acquisition of HPCL alone could get the exchequer more than Rs 30,000 crore.
The government cleared the proposal despite opposition from the petroleum ministry, which says this is not the right time for divestment as the sector is moving from trade parity to export parity pricing.
FM says government policies aim to contain inflation, spur growth.
Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday indicated that the much-delayed privatisation of oil major BPCL may not happen in the near future, saying there is "no proposal whatsoever" on his table for now. As part of its asset monetisation plan, the government had in November 2019 put Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) on the block and said it would completely sell its 52.98 per cent stake in the country's second largest state-run oil refiner and marketer. Though it had received three tentative bids, it got only one financial bid from Vedanta group, forcing it in May 2022 to shelve the plan pending a "comprehensive review".
To check fiscal deficit, government needs to drastically cut Plan expenditure.
According to officials, more clarity might be required with regard to foreign fund managers in the context of Air India divestment.
Government can announce the decision as soon as Thursday.
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.
'The target for next year is unlikely to be more than that of this year. The more you divest in any cycle, the less your potential pipeline for the next,' said an official. 'The first two issues we want to tackle and complete in FY20 are Air India and Hotel Ashok.'
The government will retain 51 per cent stake in all public sector units, finance secretary Ashok Chawla said. The government has proposed to mop up Rs 1,100 crore (Rs 11 billion) this fiscal from divestment of stake in PSUs.
Move aimed at boosting retail investor participation in disinvestment.
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