GOVT PLANNING TO SELL 149 FIELDS OF ONGC TO PRIVATE FIRMS
NEW DELHI: The government is mulling selling as many as 149 small and marginal oil and gas fields of Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC) to private and foreign companies and allow the stateowned firm to focus only on big fields, people with knowledge of the development said. On the anvil is some kind of extension of the Discovered Small Field (DSF) bid round where discovered and producing fields of ONGC are auctioned to firms offering the maximum share of output to the government, the people said. This is the second attempt by the oil ministry to take away some of the fields of ONGC for private and foreign companies. In October last year, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons had identified 15 producing fields with collective reserve of 791.2 mt of crude oil and 333.46 billion cubic meters of gas of national oil companies for handing over to private firms.
Reliance Insurance plans to file fresh IPO papers
NEW DELHI: Reliance General Insurance, part of Anil Ambani-led Reliance , plans to file fresh papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to float an initial share-sale as the regulatory approval for the insurer’s IPO is set to lapse this month, merchant banking officials said. The company failed to tap primary markets as lack of investors’ appetite for the IPO, and volatile equity market conditions forced the insurer to postpone its plans. Sebi’s approval for IPOS is valid for one year, and it will expire on November 29 in the case of Reliance General Insurance Company.
Guidelines for sale of enemy shares soon
NEW DELHI: The disinvestment department will soon come out with guidelines for sale of ‘enemy shares’ after consulting enforcement agencies of the revenue department, which have experience in auctioning confiscated properties. The Union cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, last week gave ‘in-principle’ approval for sale of shares which are part of ‘enemy property’. Enemy property refers to the assets which were left behind by people who migrated to Pakistan or China and are no longer citizens of India.
India’s coal imports rise 8% to 134 mt in FY19
NEW DELHI: India’s coal imports rose by 7.9% to 134.46 million tonnes (mt) in the first seven months of the current fiscal, according to mjunction services. The country imported 124.57 mt of coal in the corresponding period of previous fiscal. “During April-october 2018-19, India’s coal and coke imports stood at 134.46 mt, about 7.9% increase over 124.57 mt recorded for the same period last year,” mjunction services, a joint venture e-commerce platform of Tata Steel and SAIL, said. However, there was a 6.8% drop in coal and coke imports in October as compared to 19.77 mt imported during the same month last financial year. COMPILED FROM AGENCIES