Cabinet approves new process of strategic disinvestment

BHUBANESWAR: Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) on Saturday said at least 6,000 tonne coal supply and 5,000 cubic meter of overburden removal work were affected due to two incidents of work disturbances recently at its Talcher colliery. MANGALURU: The problems faced by Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) by way of ground soil erosion following heavy rains in August this year have been resolved and all operations were now smooth, company managing director M Venkatesh said on Saturday.

Addressing reporters here, he said the MRPL refinery complex had faced the soil eroNEW DELHI: The Cabinet has approved a new process of strategic disinvestment with a view to expediting privatisation of select PSUS, officials said on Friday.

The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at its meeting on Thursday evening approved the new policy under which the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) under the Ministry of Finance has been made the nodal department for the strategic stake sale.

This was done with a view to streamlining and speeding up the process, reducing the role of administrative ministries which often used to place hurdles in the path of major stake sales, officials said.

While presently PSUS for strategic sale are identified by NITI Aayog, the tweak in policy has now brought DIPAM into the picture. DIPAM and NITI Aayog will now jointly identify PSUS for strategic disinvestment, they said.

Also, DIPAM secretary would now co-chair the interminister group on disinvestment, along with the secretary of administrative ministries sion due to the intense rainfall during the first and second week of August, affecting the foundation of one of the pipe racks in phase 3.

An immediate shutdown of the entire phase 3 complex was done as safety measure during the third week of August.

All emergency measures were taken on warfooting to arrest any significant damage to pipe racks. concerned.

The change comes within a week of a group of secretaries agreeing for sale of government’s entire 53.29 per cent stake in Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd and its 63.75 per cent stake in Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), 30 per cent in Concor, 100 per cent NEEPCO and 75 per cent in THDC.

Officials said strategic sale may involve two-stage bidding beginning with an expression of interest (EOI) or a preliminary intent showing bid, and a final financial bid.

Pre-bid meetings with likely bidders and roadshows to attract potential investors will form part of the process to provide clarity on every aspect of the

After ensuring the safety of the pipe rack through rectification work, the phase 3 refinery complex was commissioned again during the second week of September.

He said the entire refinery complex was running normally at peak capacities since then.

The crude oil supplies to MRPL were not affected due to recent attack on Saudi oil facilities and the operations were stake sale.

Also, data centre will be set up for bidders to look for information on the PSUS up for sale, they added.

Officials said the idea is to complete the stake sale within a timeframe, say 4-5 months.

The government has set a target of mobalising Rs 1.05 lakh crore from disinvestment proceeds and achieving this has become more critical after it doled out Rs 1.45 lakh crore stimulus by way of a cut in corporate tax.

Disinvestment proceeds will be critical for the government to stick to its target of keeping fiscal deficit at 3.3 per cent of the GDP in the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2020. sustained normally.

Venkatesh said MRPL has been contributing to the social development of the region through its unstinting efforts under its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

Our maximum focus is towards Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district. Our CSR spending is over Rs 50 crore for 2019-20,” he said.