Ministry officials agree the Budget target of raising Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) through disinvestment this year may be difficult to meet but say the proceeds may be around Rs 24,000 crore (Rs 240 billion), if some big-ticket issues, such as those of Indian Oil Corporation and Coal India Ltd, hit the market.
The government, which raised Rs 23,920 crore (Rs 239.2 billion) in 2012-13, has also set a target of Rs 14,000 crore (Rs 140 billion) through sale of its stake in some private companies.
Among the companies likely to be disinvested in this year, the first could be Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd or IOC -- in December.
The public issue for Engineers India Ltd is scheduled for January, while that for Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd is likely to come after that.
“All options -- ETFs, offer for sale, follow-on public issue -- are available. . . but we won’t go for distress sale.
“The basket of funds has to be decided in the case of ETFs,” a finance ministry official said, adding talks were on to revive the defunct Suuti.
Suuti, through which the government holds stakes in ITC, L&T and Axis Bank, was dismantled after a Cabinet decision in March 2013.
It was decided Rs 40,000-crore (Rs 400-billion) assets would be transferred to an asset management company, which would leverage the assets to raise resources for the government.
Now, the government wants to revive Suuti so that it can sell stakes in these private companies because a Cabinet clearance is required each time shares held by the proposed AMC are to be sold.
Though foreign institutional investors had earlier this month raised some tough questions at road shows conducted in the US, UK, Hong Kong and Singapore for sale of IOC stake, the government expects to raise over Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion)
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