According to senior government officials, the aim is to complete the process by the close of the current financial year (March 31, 2010).

"NTPC is expected to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) in the coming week. Other PSUs will also follow suit and preliminary work shall be completed in the month of February," Secretary Disinvestment Sunil Mitra said on Saturday. NMDC has already filed the DRHP with the Securities Exchange Board of India.

The government plans to offload 8.38 per cent stake in NMDC, which may rake in as much as Rs 12,000 crore. "A floor price will be determined for retail and high net worth individual investors. There will be an auction for institutional investors under the Qualified Institutional Placement route," he said.

In the case of NTPC, the government plans to offload 5 per cent of its 89.5 per cent holding, which is estimated to rake in as much as Rs 5,000 crore for the government. The government also plans to divest five per cent in REC and 10 per cent in SJVNL, which is a joint venture between the Centre and the state government of Himachal Pradesh.

The government may raise as much as Rs 3,500 crore from REC's divestment and Rs 560 crore from SJVNL by bringing its stake down to 65 per cent in the latter.

This could take the total to about Rs 19,000 crore from these four PSUs alone. The money would take the total divestment proceeds to Rs 40,000 crore in 2009-2010. The funds would be placed in the National Investment Fund and the government is in a position to dip into these reserves till 2012, according to a Cabinet decision taken last year.

Source: Indian Express

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