Sunday, January 10, 2010

Govt to identify more PSUs for selloff for next 2 yrs

After the planned divestment in four more public sector enterprises this fiscal, the Centre will identify more candidates for public offers for the next two years.
The Government is also planning to change the criteria of appointing investment bankers so that only those advisors with deep-pockets do not qualify for this purpose, an official close to the development said.

The Government plans to divest stakes in NTPC in the last week of January or early February, followed by REC just before the Budget (likely on 26th February), NMDC by 10th March, and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam by the end of March, which will together fetch around Rs 30,000 crore to the Exchequer.

"After we are through with these disinvestment plans, we will identify public sector enterprises where the Government could offload its stakes in the next two years," the official informed.

The Disinvestment Department has already asked 32 nodal ministries to identify state-run firms where the government stake could be sold, a senior official had said earlier.

As per the recently cleared criteria by the Cabinet, around 60 PSUs, including MMTC, BSNL, Neyveli Lignite Corp, Engineers India, State Trading Corp, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers, National Fertilisers and Andrew Yule, are eligible for stake sale.

Also, the Department will approach the Central Vigilance Commissioner to allow it to change the criteria of choosing investment bankers from just cost-basis to quality-cum-cost basis, the official said.

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