Finance Minister Arun Jaitley assures govt's disinvesement plan on track

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday that the government's disinvestment programme worth Rs 43,425 crore was on track and a schedule for sale of stake in public sector firms would be announced soon.

"The process (of disinvestment) is well on the way and the schedule will be announced (soon)," the Finance Minister told reporters in the national capital while responding to queries related to the government's stake sale programme in Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs).

The government, in September, had approved diluting its shareholding in Coal India (CIL), ONGC and NHPC. The stake sales in the three bluechip state-owned firms could fetch the government about Rs 42,000-43,000 crore.

Sources say the disinvestment in the three companies would be done through the Offer For Sale (OFS) process, popularly known as the auction route.

The government has already selected merchant bankers for managing ONGC and NHPC disinvestment and is in the process of doing so for CIL.

In his Budget speech, Jaitley had set a disinvestment target of Rs 43,425 crore.

The government is also eyeing Rs 15,000 crore from the sale of its residual stake in the erstwhile government companies, as per the Budget document.

In the fiscal years 2010-11 and 2011-12, the government had raised Rs 22,144 crore and Rs 13,894 crore through divestment, against the budgeted target of Rs 40,000 crore in each year.

In FY13, it had raised Rs 23,956 crore as opposed to a goal of Rs 30,000 crore.

In the previous fiscal (FY14), the government could raise Rs 16,027 crore, as against the budgeted target of Rs 40,000 crore. The target in revised estimates was scaled down to Rs 16,027 crore.