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Panel fails to meet deadline on Maruti sell-off

The 15-day deadline set by the Cabinet Committee on Divestment for the secretaries' committee to finalise its report on different options for divestment of Maruti Udyog Limited has lapsed even as the high-level panel in still holding confabulations with different companies, including Suzuki Motor Corporation.

"The report has not been finalised and the discussions are going on," top level official sources said. The committee's report will be placed before the next CCD meeting scheduled for December 23.

The CCD, at its meeting on November 18, gave a 15-day time limit to the committee of secretaries for finalising its report after holding discussions with different parties, mainly Suzuki Motor Corporation.

The committee has finalised one round of discussions with a senior level SMC delegation which arrived in New Delhi last week.

MUL managing director Jagdish Khattar refused to make any comment. ''I am not part of it. You should ask the government about it," he said.

However, Khattar is believed to have briefed the members of the committee more than once.

While many of the automobile majors, including Ford Motor and Bajaj Auto, have evinced interest in buying the government stake in Maruti, the joint venture agreement binds both the partners to seek written consent from each other in case one of them wants to sell its shares to a third party.

However, the government is not obliged to give the first right of refusal to SMC as no such agreement exists between the two joint venture partners.

Divestment Minister Arun Shourie had said that the secretaries committee could consider different options which include selling the government stake to SMC, buying out the Japanese partner and selling the equity to a third party. Reports suggested that the committee was open to consider any fresh option.

Meanwhile, the government has invited expression of interest for divestment of its 26 per cent equity in Hindustan Zinc Limited to a strategic partner with ''appropriate role in management''.

The government currently holds 75.92 per cent of equity in HZL. BNP Paribas is advisor to the HZL divestment.

UNI

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