Govt to keep focus on strategic stake sales
The government will continue to focus on strategic stake sales to meet its ~2.1-trillion disinvestment target in the current financial year, even as Covid-19 has led to some distortions, said Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam) on Friday.
“Many strategic transactions are going on. There was a bit of distortion because of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Pandey, who was speaking at a webinar on Bharat Bond ETF.
The government has been extending deadlines for expression of interest (EOI) for strategic sales because of the pandemic.
Recently, the government extended the deadline to submit bids for Air India till August 31. The government has extended the deadline for submitting an EOI till July 31, 2020.
The Dipam secretary refrained from answering questions on whether the government was considering
altering its disinvestment target for FY21, given the current market conditions. Pandey also avoided sharing an update on the IPO process of the insurance major LIC.
The strategic sales include those of Air India, BEML, Central Electronics, Scooters India, Bharat Pumps and Compressors, and some dilution in SAIL. In May, the government said there will be a maximum of four public sector companies in strategic sectors.