Department of Disinvestment (DOD) has told Finance Ministry that it would be able to raise only about Rs 30,000 crore out of the total target of Rs 69,500 crore for the current fiscal 2015-16, giving the reason of market volatility it added that higher target was becoming 'counter-productive' in framing of a strategy for sale of shares. DOD further said that Rs 30,000 crore is a realistic target in this market condition and if achieved then it still would be the highest ever disinvestment target achieved in a year for the government.
For disinvestment in the current fiscal 2015-16, the government has lined up 20 PSUs for which it already has cabinet approval. This includes, 10% stake sale each in OIL, IOC, Nalco, NMDC, besides, 5% in NTPC, ONGC, and BHEL. Even as these 20 PSUs would fetch high returns, they would not be able to match the proceeds DOD had garnered via 10% share sale of Coal India last fiscal, raising Rs 22,600 crore.
Of the targeted Rs 69,500 crore, Rs 41,000 crore was to come from minority stake sale in PSUs and Rs 28,500 crore from strategic stake sales. In the previous fiscal (2014-15), the government raised around Rs 25,000 crore against the target of Rs 58,425 crore. The Rs 58,425-crore target included Rs 43,425 crore from minority stake sale and Rs 15,000 crore from residual stake sale in erstwhile PSUs.