Rs 33,500-cr shares on the block: Govt plans to sell stake in 15 PSUs this fiscal

NEW DELHI: The government is planning disinvestment in 15 public sector enterprises in the current fiscal, including sale of shares worth Rs 7,000 crore in the state-owned mining company NMDC.

"Shares worth $6 billion (about Rs 33,500 crore) are on the block," a senior official of the finance ministry said, adding that the government has lined up disinvestment in companies such as Hindustan Copper, BHEL, Engineers India and NHPC.

The government's sell-off programme has been one of the highlights at its investor roadshows on new qualified foreign investor framework in the Gulf. Sovereign wealth funds from the region, such as KIA, Mumtalakat, Saudi Arabian Bank and state pension funds, have evinced interest to invest in India through the framework, an official said.

"Investors were very bullish on India and are keen to invest," the official said, adding that they had sought clarifications on tax issues, including the new direct taxes code and General Anti-avoidance Rule, besides tax implications for the qualified foreign investor framework and disinvestment policy.

The ministry is hopeful of receiving the first investment through this route within a month. The roadshows, held in Riyadh, Dubai, Muscat and Bahrain, included one-on-one meetings with investors and officials from RBI, Sebi, departments of disinvestment, revenue and economic affairs, and ministry of external affairs. Industrial groups from the region, such as Zubair group, Al Khonji, Bahwan group and Qurum business group, showed interest in realty, banking and manufacturing firms.

The government has set a target of Rs 30,000 crore from disinvestment of its stake in public sector enterprises this fiscal. The disinvestment department is exploring options, such as creation of an exchange-traded fund with PSUs, which will provide the government a stable mechanism to raise large sums of money from the market with minimal disruption to the share prices of these companies. Choppy markets forced the government to defer much of its disinvestment programme in last fiscal, when just Rs 13,894 crore could be collected against a target of Rs 40,000 crore.