Institutional investors lapped up Coal India shares in this fiscal's maiden government stake-sale, with Rs 6,500 crore bids pouring in on the first day of the offer-for-sale. The government had offered over 8.31 crore shares to institutional investors on Thursday under the offer-for-sale (OFS), but received bids for 28.76 crore shares or 3.46 times. At the indicative price of Rs 226.12 a share, the bids of institutional buyers are worth Rs 6,500 crore.
Notwithstanding the recent sharp decline in the stocks of public sector companies, analysts at Jefferies remain bullish on this segment. State Bank of India, Coal India, and NTPC are their top picks in this space, they said in a recent note. The public sector undertaking (PSU) or state-owned enterprise (SOE) index, with a 70-percentage-point outperformance versus the National Stock Exchange Nifty50 over the past 12 months, comes after a decade of underperformance before 2020.
Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) has discovered significant concentrations of rare earth elements and critical minerals in its mines in Maharashtra, potentially transforming waste material into revenue-generating resources and diversifying the company's business.
Conflicting views on Coal India (CIL) might leave investors confused. The bullish perspective that India has strong power demand (and also high steel production) means high demand for coal. As CIL is the monopoly producer of coal -- supplying over 80 per cent of the domestic requirement - the public sector undertaking should be a beneficiary of the rising power demand.
'The universe of PSU stocks is huge and diverse.' 'Investors should bet on specific sectors and stocks from the basket as most of them may continue to consolidate after years of outperformance.'
Currently, the government holds 100 per cent stake in the PSU and plans to offload 10 per cent equity through the IPO, which will offer 63.16 crore (631.6 million) shares.
Utilities in the power sector present an interesting investment case at this moment. Most power stocks have lost substantial ground in the past 12 months.
The country's largest coal producer Coal India is likely to decide in 2-3 days on roping in anchor investors for its upcoming mega initial public offer, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said here on Friday.
An Inter-ministerial panel had last month approved 10 per cent equity sale in Coal India. At present, the government holds 90 per cent stake in the firm.
The government is selling over 18.62 crore shares or 3 per cent in Coal India at a floor price of Rs 266 apiece.
'Those betting against PSUs will likely be punished in this upswing.'
Trade unions on Tuesday began a five-day coal industry strike, terming it as the biggest industrial action for any sector since 1977.
The last year has seen public sector undertakings (PSUs) outperforming the Nifty50, albeit by a small degree. But PSU valuations are still, on average, less than half of private sector peers at price-to-equity or PE 8.7x for the Nifty PSU Index versus 20.9x for the Nifty50. There are several reasons for lower valuation.
With Coal India deciding to pay around Rs 16,485 crore as interim dividend, the government will be able to make up for the shortfall in the disinvestment target of Rs 40,000 crore for the current fiscal.
Biggest ever share sale by any private or public sector co in India.
State-owned CIL on Monday said coal supply to the power sector rose 15.6 per cent to 49.7 million tonne last month in the wake of high demand of the dry fuel from electricity generating plants and stressed that it is planning to augment its dispatches further, especially to power plants in the coming months. The statement comes at a time when several parts of the country are grappling with power crisis. "With the intense demand for coal continuing unabated driven by an upward spiral in the electricity generation, CIL (Coal India) pushed up its supplies to power plants of the country to 49.7 million tonnes (MT) in April'22.
Increasing cooperation in critical minerals will top Prime Minister Modi's agenda during his discussions with leaders of Ghana, Argentinia, Brazil and Namibia.
Nifty snaps 10-day winning streak
Stocks of public sector companies, especially the oil refining and marketing companies (OMCs) - Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOC) - logged gains on Tuesday in a weak market. While the Nifty lost nearly 1 per cent in trade on Tuesday, the Nifty CPSE index - a gauge of performance of central public sector enterprises on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) - gained over 3 per cent in intra-day trade. The rally in PSU stocks comes on the back of the BPCL chairman, Arun Kumar Singh suggesting in the company's annual general meeting (AGM) on Monday that the government intends to complete the divestment process in the OMC by March 2022.
Stocks of public sector undertakings (PSUs) have been on fire in the past year as investors cheered an improvement in key operating metrics and embraced counters of these state-owned enterprises, analysts suggest. The S&P BSE PSU Index has gained over 90 per cent in the past year, rising much higher than the S&P BSE Sensex, which has rose nearly 19 per cent during this period, according to ACE Equity data. The BSE PSU Index, reports show, has delivered a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28 per cent (including dividends reinvestments) over five years and risen by almost 60 per cent in the past year.
In the year to date, 61 PSUs have lost an average of 22 per cent, with five companies losing more than half their share value. The BSE PSU index is down 10.6 per cent.
The current power crisis is mainly on account of sharp decline in electricity generation from different fuel sources and not due to non-availability of domestic coal, a top official said on Sunday. The above statement assumes significance in the wake of reports of many states, including Maharashtra, facing power outages due to shortage of coal. In an interview to PTI, Coal Secretary A K Jain attributed the low coal stocks at power plants to several factors such as heightened power demand due to the boom in the economy post COVID-19, early arrival of summer, rise in the price of gas and imported coal and sharp fall in electricity generation by coastal thermal power plants.
Jaiswal's statement came after Coal India said its multi-billion dollars worth of projects could become unviable if prices were not hiked. The PSU is seeking a nominal increase in prices of its products which were marginally revised last in 2007.
Despite high exposure of public sector banks to power, iron and steel sectors, analysts remain in a wait-and-watch mode.
If the markets regulator has not yet sent an advisory note to Coal India on its chief executive's frequent announcements in the media, it is probably because it is a public sector enterprise.
Currently, only Coal India, the world's largest coal miner, and its smaller sister PSU Singareni Collieries besides mining agencies of state government are allowed commercial coal mining.
'Inter-ministerial coordination, information on the proposed PSUs, and due diligence are taking longer than expected to conclude the process.'
Over 75 per cent of India's daily coal output has been hit as the five-day strike by workers of state-run miners entered the second day on Wednesday, raising fears of disruption in power supplies.
Amid strong opposition from CIL workers union to the proposed stake sale in the company, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said the disinvestment proceeds of about Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) from the coal behemoth will be invested in public sector banks.
The decision assumes significance following the enthusiastic response from retail investors in the Friday's stake sale in steel major SAIL, which fetched the government Rs 1,715 crore (Rs 17.15 billion).
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.
Price correction over post-election peaks could throw disinvestment calculations awry.
The government on Friday said the auction of explored coal blocks may take place either by December or the beginning of the next year.
Among the 30 Sensex companies, Larsen & Toubro, Power Grid, NTPC, State Bank of India, Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank were the biggest laggards. Sun Pharma and Nestle were the only gainers.
Traditionally, most PSUs have been cash-rich, which added to their value. However, the government has been tapping regularly into their cash resources to boost revenue for the exchequer
Government-owned companies are more generous in rewarding their shareholders with dividends.
Public-sector enterprise stocks have seen a good run thus far in 2023-24 (FY24), with the S&P BSE PSU Index surging by over 26 per cent during the period, compared to an 11 per cent increase in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex.
There's a straightforward relationship between economic activity and power consumption. If economic activity increases, so does power consumption. Since the latest GDP (gross domestic product) data indicates India's growth rates exceeded expectations in the second half if the 2022-23 financial year (H2FY23) and GDP estimates of FY24 are strong, we would expect power consumption to rise as indeed it has. There is also a direct relationship between power consumption and National Thermal Power Corporation or NTPC's results since the public sector undertaking (PSU) is the largest power generator in India.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided that 10 per cent of the government's stake in Coal India Ltd would be sold. Similarly, the sale of five per cent of its stake in ONGC and 11.4 per cent in the hydropower public-sector unit, NHPC, has been cleared.
Oil explorer ONGC again emerged as the highest profit-making PSU of the country during 2012-13 while telecom major BSNL turned out to be the biggest loss-making enterprise, says the Economic Survey.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances