Govt now looks to divest stakes in IOC, BHEL, Nalco & NMDC

With uncertainty looming large over disinvestment in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) and Coal India, the government is exploring options to sell stake in Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), National Aluminum Company (Nalco) and NMDC.

At a time when meeting the Budget target of Rs 58,000 crore for the current financial year seems difficult, this stake sale would fetch the government about Rs 18,000 crore (Rs 8,100 crore from IOC; Rs 3,500 crore from BHEL; Rs 1,230 crore from Nalco; and Rs 5,426 crore from NMDC).

The government owns 68.57 per cent in IOCL, 63.06 per cent in BHEL, 80.93 per cent in Nalco and 80 per cent in NMDC.

The Department of Disinvestment has invited engagement from merchant bankers to offload 10 per cent government stake in IOCL, Nalco and NMDC each and five per cent in BHEL.

IOC shares were up 0.4 per cent on the BSE on Thursday and closed at Rs 331.8 apiece. BHEL shares closed at Rs 283.7 apiece, up 0.7 per cent on the BSE.

Nalco shares last traded at Rs 47.70 apiece on the BSE, down 0.5 per cent from Wednesday's close. NMDC shares were down Rs 1.40 to close at Rs 136.85.

The government has set an ambitious target of raising Rs 58,425 crore through disinvestment in the current financial year, out of which Rs 43,425 crore is via listed companies.

In these public offerings, the Centre plans to allot shares worth Rs 2 lakh to employees of the company at a discount of five per cent of the issue price.

"We plan to move fast on the new companies, in terms of getting approvals and conducting road shows," said an official with disinvestment department.

These stake sale announcements from the government come at a time when the Centre is likely to fall short of its ambitious target and some of its earlier proposals for divesting like SUUTI Exchange Traded Fund might not happen in the current financial year. Blue-chip companies such as ONGC, NHPC and Coal India have been lined up for disinvestment.

In 2014-15, the government has sold a five per cent stake in steel major SAIL and raked in Rs 1,700 crore. It is also targeting Rs 15,000 crore from the sale of residual stakes in private companies in the current financial year.

BHEL