CENTRE EXCEEDS DISINVESTMENT TARGET FOR FY19 AT ₹85,000 CR

NEW DELHI: The centre has exceeded its disinvestment target for the financial year 2018-19, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday.

“As against a target of ₹80,000 crore for disinvestment for the current year, the divestment receipts have touched ₹85,000 crore today,” Jaitley said in a tweet.

As of February 28, the government had garnered ₹56,473 crore as disinvestment proceeds.

State-owned Power Finance Corp. Ltd also finalized a deal to acquire a 52.63% stake in another state-owned entity, REC Ltd, for ₹14,500 crore, taking the disinvestment collection close to ₹71,000 crore.

The centre on Friday garnered ₹10,000 crore through the fourth tranche of CPSE Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). ETFS— index funds listed and traded on domestic bourses just like stocks—was introduced in 2017-18 as vehicle for disinvestment of shares. “CPSE ETF FFO4 (further fund offer) oversubscribed by about eight times so far against the base issue size of ₹3,500 crore. Government has decided to retain ₹10,000 crore,” department of investment and private asset management (DIPAM) secretary Atanu Chakraborty said in a tweet.

The government was able to garner revenue through share buybacks, initial public offerings, offer for sale, as well as exchange traded funds.

In fiscal 2017-18, the government exceeded the target of ₹1 lakh crore, mainly because of deals such as ONGC Ltd buying the central government’s entire 51% stake in HPCL Ltd for ₹36,915 crore. The disinvestment target for fiscal 2019-20 is ₹90,000 crore.