The government has set a target to raise Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) through disinvestment this year and has lined up public offers of Power Finance Corporation, SAIL, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Hindustan Copper in the current fiscal, a top government official said Monday.
"We have Cabinet approvals for 4 public issues this year. We will kick-off this year's disinvestment process with the launch of Power Finance Corporation's follow on public offer, followed by SAIL in June and ONGC issue in July," disinvestment secretary, Sumit Bose, told reporters in Mumbai.
"We will also launch the public offer of Hindustan Copper later this year along with other public sector companies," Bose said, adding the target of disinvestment has been fixed at Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) this year.
Last year, Rs 22,400 crore (Rs 224 billion) was raised through disinvestment after launching of 3 initial public offers and 3 FPOs while the SAIL and ONGC issues were rolled-over to this year, he said.
SAIL is expected to raise around Rs 7,000-8,000-crore (Rs 70-80 billion) going by the prevailing market price of the stock.
SAIL is likely to keep half of it while the rest will go to the government's divestment kitty.
India's largest steel company is in the midst of its largest expansion, with plans to beef up capacity to 21-million tonnes a year in the next couple of years from 13-million tonnes.
SAIL will spend nearly Rs 70,000 crore (Rs 700 billion) on its proposed expansion plans.
The government also plans to raise Rs 13,000 crore (Rs 130 billion) through sale of five per cent stake in ONGC.
Post offer, the government shareholding in ONGC would come down to 69.14 per cent from the current 74.14 per cent.
The Power Finance Corporation FPO is likely to fetch close to Rs 4,700 crore (Rs 47 billion) at the upper-end and Rs 4,400 crore (Rs 44 billion) at the lower-end of the price-band.
The FPO, which opens on May 10 and closes on May 13, comprises fresh issue of 17.21-crore (172.1 million) equity shares besides 5.74 crore (57.4 million) equity shares which is being off-loaded by the government from the company.
