Attorney General Soli Sorabjee has said the sale of stakes in two state-run oil refiners does not need parliamentary approval.
Divestment Minister Arun Shourie said on Tuesday that his ministry had furnished all the facts to Attorney General for getting his opinion on the legal aspects of privatising public sector oil company, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation.
Attorney-General Soli Sorabjee's response on the privatisation of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd is likely to be known later this week.
A day ahead of a crucial meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Divestment, Defence Minister George Fernandes said he favoured public sector units like Oil and Natural Gas Corporation to be allowed to bid for HPCL.
Differences between ministries of divestment and petroleum are likely to surface at Fridays meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Divestment as the former is believed to have proposed keeping public sector units.
The post fell vacant after incumbent Prasad Dasgupta took early retirement. Dasgupta's five-year term was to come to an end on August 31 and he was eligible for a two-year extension till he attained superannuation at the age of 65 in 2012.
Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie said Tuesday the SEBI has initiated an investigation into the fall of share prices of BPCL and HPCL.
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.
State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation approached the petroleum ministry on Thursday with an initial proposal for permission to bid for Hindustan Petroleum Corporation as and when the government decides to offer its stake in the PSU.
Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said on Wednesday that he would forward to the Cabinet Committee on Divestment the proposals from public sector units under his ministry to bid for Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd after examining individual proposals.
Divestment Minister Arun Shourie will soon make a statement on stake sales in two state-run oil firms following a consensus reached on the issue by a group of top ministers.
Companies are ranked by total revenues.
S Rajendra Babu, a Supreme Court judge, was on Thursday appointed the Chief Justice of India with effect from May 2.
In 13 hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 7.11 per litre and diesel by Rs 7.67 a litre.
Afraid of US sanctions, State Bank declines payment facilitation for oil imports from Iran.
The government is planning a moderate hike of Rs 1-1.50 per litre in the prices of petrol and diesel in view of the rising global crude tags.
Public sector oil retailing firms have lost over Rs 5,800 crore in the first six weeks of current fiscal due to non-revision of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene prices.
Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani on Thursday termed as an "obstacle" the Supreme Court ruling halting the privatisation of oil firms HPCL and BPCL and said the government will "manoeuvre" it to keep the momentum of divestment programme.
ONGC will submit a proposal to the Union government for acquiring Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd's entire 16.97% stake in Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd at Rs 37.75 per share even though HPCL is not keen to divest its holding.
HPCL is the largest supplier of jet fuel to Kingfisher.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation has proposed to shed about 11 per cent of its workforce by offering the surplus staff a VRS, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
HPCL is Kingfisher Airline's largest aviation turbine fuel supplier.
Oil major ONGC is believed to have been kept out of the bidding process for the two oil PSUs.
The government has been able to mobilise Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 3,500 crore (Rs 30-35 billion) by way of divestment during the first nine months of the current financial year, Divestment Minister, Arun Shourie.
State-run Bharat Petroleum Corp has offered to take Hindustan Petroleum Corp as equal partner in the Rs 6,354 crore (Rs 63.54 billion) Bina refinery in Madhya Pradesh.
The merged entity will become the third biggest refiner behind IOC and Reliance Industries.
The cut reflects changes in global prices of the two fuels since the last revision.
Petrol and diesel prices are likely to go up by at least Rs 2 per litre after the Lok Sabha polls, once the current freeze on revising prices in step with the cost of the raw material -- crude oil -- is lifted.
Over half, or 269 NSE 500 stocks, have given over 10-fold (10x) returns in the last two decades, finds a recent report by Goldman Sachs that analysed 10 major markets across emerging and developed markets (EM/DM) that covered 6,700 stocks. The report examined '10-baggers' - stocks that have generated at least 10x total returns within a rolling 5-year period over the past two decades. Some of the prominent ones that comprise these 269 stocks in the Indian context stocks that delivered over 10x total returns over a 5-year rolling period since 2000 as per Goldman Sachs includes Westlife Foodworld, Bharti Airtel, Adani Total Gas, Patanjali Foods, Larsen & Toubro, BEML, Blue Star, Shree Cement, Lupin, Godrej Industries, Astral, Adani Enterprises, Hindustan Petroleum and Deepak Fertilisers.
The limited availability of flexible (flex)-fuel vehicles in the Indian market and the slow rollout of ethanol-blended petrol by oil-marketing companies (OMCs) remain major obstacles to achieving widespread use of biofuels in the transportation sector in India. Recently, two Union ministers have emphasised India's biofuel potential, arguing that it has the capacity and potential to lead a transition towards widespread biofuel adoption. Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari signalled that this transition is well underway and urged car manufacturers to quickly adapt and introduce new biofuel-run vehicles, lest the government resort to taxing diesel vehicles.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd will invest Rs 1,040 crore (Rs 10.40 billion) in 2004-05 in its refineries and pipeline projects to attain organic growth, the Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday.
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.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd is to set up three liquefied petroleum gas bottling plants with an investment of Rs 55 crore (Rs 550 million) even as it plans to introduce the 5-kg LPG cylinders in the urban areas.
