Bankers meet government on ONGC disinvestment

NEW DELHI : The government on Monday held a meeting with the merchant bankers on the issue of disinvestment in oil sector major ONGC. The government plans to raise Rs 13,000 crore by selling a 5% stake in the state run firm. After the stake sale, government's holding in ONGC will come down to 69.14% from 74.14%.

"It was a regular meeting with the bankers to assess the market conditions. No decision has been taken," said a senior finance ministry official. The Cabinet has already given clearance for disinvestment of SAIL, ONGC and HCL.

The government is looking to raise Rs 40,000 crore in this fiscal from disinvestment in some of the major blue chip companies which include Sail, Hindustan Copper, BHEL among others. In this financial year, the government has already raised Rs 1,162 crore through the divestment of 5% stake in Power Finance Corporation.

Due to volatile market conditions, timeline cannot be fixed for issues such as SAIL. The first phase of road shows for Sail had to be cancelled. The board of the steel sector PSU has, however, approved the red herring prospectus but could not decide on the timing of the offer.