Govt won't sell more stake in Nalco

NEW DELHI: The Government today said it has no plans to sell more stake in aluminum producer National Aluminum Company (Nalco).

"...the Ministry has no proposal for disinvestment of the public sector undertaking Nalco," Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The government had already divested about 13 percent of its stake in Nalco and currently holds 87.15 percent stake in the company.

Shares of Nalco today closed at 378.55, down 0.38 percent on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The Cabinet in November had decided to increase public holding in all listed central public sector enterprises to 10 per cent and to list all unlisted profitable state-owned entities.

In the current fiscal, the government has already reduced its stake in NHPC and Oil India.

The disinvestment department of the Finance Ministry had said it is in talks with 60 CPSUs, including SAIL, BSNL, Coal India, for selling of government stake.

Last week, the Finance Ministry had asked 32 nodal ministries to identify state-run firms where the government stake could be sold and and has sought their response by the end of this month.