Govt clears 10% stake sale in NMDC; hopeful of raising Rs 13K crore by Dec

26 Oct 2012 Evaluate

The government has cleared the sale of 10 percent stake in iron ore giant NMDC besides allowing a ministerial panel to look at options other than auction. Based on current market prices, the sale can fetch the government around Rs 7,000 crore out of its disinvestment target of Rs 30,000 crore for the current financial year. The Finance Ministry is hopeful of raising Rs 12,000-13,000 crore from stake sale in the public sector undertakings (PSUs) by December-end.

Other companies whose shares could be sold include steelmaker SAIL, India's largest power generator NTPC, and mining & mineral companies Coal India and MMTC. The government has approved the proposal to sell 10 percent stake in Oil India and another 9.59 percent disinvestment in Hindustan Copper, while 12.15 percent stake sale of Nalco and 9.33 percent in MMTC through Offer for Sale (OFS) route. The government is trying to attract inflows from a new category of foreign investors, QFIs - largely individuals and family offices.

Finance Ministry officials are engaging in hectic discussion with the PSUs to speed up the process so that the disinvestments can take place in the December and March quarters which could help the government to rein in fiscal deficit to around 5.3 per cent of the GDP in 2012-13. Although the government had pegged fiscal deficit for the current financial year at 5.1 per cent in the budget, but it seems unlikely to achieve due to rising subsidy bill and lower tax collection so far.

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