Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said the terms and conditions of the strategic sale of HPCL and and public offer in BPCL would be worked out by a core group of secretaries on divestment.
Roads, railways, and coal together are likely to account for 70 per cent of the government's takings from the upcoming second edition of the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), set to run from FY26 to FY30. In comparison, these three sectors are estimated to have contributed 66 per cent in the first edition of the NMP - FY22 to FY25.
Former RBI governor D Subbarao has suggested that the government should come up with a 10-year road map for privatisation of all Public Sector Banks (PSBs) as it would provide much needed predictability to stakeholders. Subbarao further said that the big bang approach to privatisation of state-owned banks is not desirable but at the same time the issue should not be put on the back burner. "Ideally, we should have a road map, maybe over a 10 year timeframe, to privatise all PSBs. "That will give much needed predictability to all stakeholders," he told PTI.
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 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.
The Centre has conceded most of the demands of potential buyers of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL). These include lowering the lock-in period for sale of assets to one year and allowing the new buyer to undertake the amalgamation of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) into NINL. An inter-ministerial group led by Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam) secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey and the core group of secretaries on divestment (CGD) headed by Cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba have decided that the lock-in period can be reduced to one year from the date of completion of sale, from the earlier three years proposed by Dipam, an official in the know said.
No other corporate house in India is in a better position than Tata group for the takeover of debt-laden airline Air India, former deputy chairman of erstwhile Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Thursday. Tata Sons has emerged as the top bidder for the takeover of the state-run airline but the bid is yet to be approved by a group of ministers headed by Home Minister Amit Shah. "You can't have a better corporate, with a better position than the Tatas, we can hand it (state-run airline Air India) over," he said while replying to a question in a virtual event.
The NITI Aayog has recommended privatisation of state-owned insurer United India Insurance Company as the government aims to move ahead with its new public sector enterprise (PSE) policy for Atmanirbhar Bharat. The policy think tank has suggested that the public sector insurer be considered for privatisation in the banking, insurance and financial services sector, which has been classified as 'strategic' in the PSE policy, said an official. The policy proposes the "bare minimum" presence of government-owned companies in strategic sectors, and privatisation, merger or closure of remaining public sector undertakings (PSUs).
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.
Now that almost 10 infrastructure ministries have submitted a fresh list of their core infrastructure assets, the government has realised it stands to make much more money from asset monetisation than previously thought. Two persons in the government said it stood to garner over 30 per cent more than the earlier estimates of Rs 2.5 trillion over the next four years under the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP). The NMP, which is being prepared by Niti Aayog, is in the advanced stages of finalisation and is expected to be unveiled in August.
The department of investment and public asset management (Dipam) can also seek in-principle approval from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for strategic divestment of PSUs on a case-to-case basis considering investor appetite and sectoral trends.
All banks are eligible for privatisation. A committee of secretaries will decide which banks will be privatised, says Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda.
FIPB panel to meet today, discuss telecom investments.
With the shifting of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board to the finance ministry, the government has now reconstituted the board appointing Finance Secretary S Narayan as its chairperson.\n\n\n\n
The core group of secretaries on divestment scrutinised the financial bids for sale of newsprint maker NEPA and took up the issue of the divestment of equity in a slew of PSUs.
The Core Group of Secretaries on Divestment is believed to have favoured the appointment of HSBC as the global advisor for managing the privatisation of oil PSU Hindustan Petroleum Corporation.\n\n
Close on the heels of Disinvestment Commission recommending privatisation of National Buildings Construction Corp, Disinvestment Department has asked Ministry of Urban Development for its comments in the matter, by January 31.
The government is going ahead with divestment of Balmer Lawrie & Company with the asset valuers Dalal Mott McDonalds slated to submit its report to the divestment ministry in the coming weeks.
The government is likely to finalise by the third week of this month, the advisor for divestments of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd for which over half a dozen merchant bankers are in the race.\n\n\n\n
The Divestment Ministry is moving fast to restart the sell-off process and go ahead with divestment in oil PSUs -- HPCL and BPCL.\n\n\n\n
The government is believed to have zeroed in on DSP Merill Lynch for appointment as advisor and UBS and I-Sec as lead manager for the proposed public offer in Bharat Petroleum Corporation.
The government has set up a standing group on the economic fallout of the ongoing US-led war on Iraq to look into issues particularly related to exports, inward remittances, oil prices and tourism.
Jaitley did not say if it will be an outright sale or partial divestment.
Government has targeted to garner about Rs 56,500 crore through selling its stake in PSUs.
For next fiscal, the minority stake sale target has been kept at Rs 36,000 crore.
The guidelines for strategic disinvestment were issued on Monday itself when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget for 2016-17.
RIL said it had launched 'an internal probe' into its staff's detention.
Govt bosses in no hurry to exit from PSUs; many agencies, long process likely hurdles.
Doubts over implementation of a Cabinet-approved strategic sale policy are puzzling.
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