Centre aims to conclude sale of IDBI, SCI and BEML by next March 

The centre is confident of achieving its disinvestment target of Rs 65,000 crore for the current fiscal year as it hopes to conclude the sale of at least three major companies by the end of March this year.

“We hope to conclude the sale of the government’s stake in IDBI Bank, Shipping Corporation of India and BEML Ltd in this fiscal year”, a finance ministry official to Business Today TV.

“We are also confident of beginning the disinvestment process of Container Corporation of India and Hindustan Zinc Ltd before March 2023,” he added.

The finance ministry has set its sights on a lower target for disinvestment revenues in the current fiscal. At Rs 65,000 crore, the target this year is nearly 18 per cent lower than the revised target of Rs 78,000 crore in the previous fiscal.

While the government was not able to achieve its disinvestment target last year due to a delay in the LIC public issue, it has collected Rs 23,574 crore this year from the LIC issue and the ONGC offer-for-sale.  

“We are seeing a major pushback in terms of market sentiment. Many bidders have asked for more time due to current market conditions In the past three years, the disinvestment plans have been hit by global factors including the Covid pandemic. We do not know how the next few months will pan out, but we are hopeful that our plans will be on track”, the official added. 

Last week, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) said it is calling off the expression of interest process for Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL). “The BPCL sale process will be re looked at with different terms of sale. It is difficult to predict the timeline,” the official said.

The finance ministry is also hopeful of initiating the formal process to sell the centre’s 29.58 per cent stake in Hindustan Zinc. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had last week approved the sale which is expected to fetch over Rs 38,000 crore for the exchequer.

This week, finance ministry officials will also be traveling to the United States of America to meet top global investors for the sale of its stake in IDBI Bank. Officials expect to begin the sale process in early July. “IDBI is taking us a bit of time, because it is the first transaction of its kind”, the official said.

At present, IDBI Bank is classified as a private sector bank by the RBI with the government's shareholding at 45.5 per cent, LIC's shareholding at 49.24 per cent and non-promoter shareholding at 5.29 per cent.