The government has set a target to raise Rs 40,000-crore through
disinvestment this year and has lined up public offers of Power Finance Corporation, SAIL (formerly Steel Authority of India Ltd), Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Hindustan Copper in the current financial year, a top government official said on Monday.
"We have Cabinet approvals for four public issues this year. We will kick-off this year's disinvestment process with the launch of Power Finance Corporation's follow-on public offer (FPO), followed by SAIL in June and ONGC in July," Disinvestment Secretary Sumit Bose told reporters in Mumbai.
"We will also launch the public offer of Hindustan Copper later this year along with other public sector companies," Bose said, adding the target has been fixed at Rs 40,000-crore this year.
Last year,
Rs 22,400-crore was raised through disinvestment after launching three initial piblic offers (IPOs) and three FPOs, while the SAIL and ONGC issues were rolled-over to this year, he said.
SAIL is expected to raise around Rs 7,000-8,000-crore going by the prevailing market price of the stock. SAIL is likely to keep half of it while the rest will go to the government's divestment kitty.
India's largest steel company is in the midst of its largest expansion, with plans to beef up capacity to 21-million tonnes a year in the next couple of years from 13-million tonnes. SAIL will spend nearly Rs 70,000-crore on its proposed expansion plans.
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