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Shipping Corp of India to be privatised by January

The government hopes to complete a stake sale in the country's largest shipping company, Shipping Corporation of India Ltd, by January 2003, Shipping Minister Ved Prakash Goyal said on Sunday.

"Around 90 per cent of the divestment process in SCI has been completed. It should be completed by December-January; in three, four months," Goyal told a news conference in the eastern port city of Kolkata.

The government owns 80 per cent of SCI, which has a fleet of 94 ships, and plans to sell a 51 per cent stake to a strategic investor.

He added security clearance for privatising SCI, which handles 40 per cent of India's shipping tonnage, would come from the interior ministry, but did not give details.

India's privatisation drive, a key element of its reforms programme, hit a roadblock earlier this month as a decision to sell stakes in oil refiners Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd was deferred by three months after differences within the ruling coalition.

But Goyal said the delay in stake sales in HPCL and BPCL will not impact SCI's privatisation.

"Due diligence is nearly over in SCI. There will be no impact."

Analysts say the move raises doubts about the government's ability to carry out reforms ahead of key state elections in 2003 and national polls a year later.

With the country's divestment programme hitting obstacles, the government has admitted it will not be able to meet its target of raising Rs 12,000 crore (Rs 120 billion) through stake sales in state-run firms in the year to March 2003.

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