India reveals stake sale deadline for state-run firms
THE Indian government hopes to complete its stake sales in Air India, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and other state-run companies in the current financial year, it has emerged.
Tuhin Kanta Pandey, the secretary in the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), said India will also float an expression of interest for stake sale in logistics firm Concor after the land lease policy was finalised.
“The disinvestment agenda has been put on fast track through the unveiling of the new PSE (public sector enterprises) policy, notified on February 4, 2021, which is expected to be an important policy for the next five years and will result in increase in privatisation in the economy,” Pandey said during a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) summit.
The government expects `500 billion (£4.8bn) in dividends from public sector companies this fiscal, and is working on a `6 trillion (£58.5bn) asset monetisation plan, he added.
India’s budget document mentioned major disinvestments this year, including Air India, BPCL, the Shipping Corporation of India, BEML, Pawan Hans and Neelachal Ispat Nigam.
In all these enterprises, the government has received interest from bidders, officials said.
Pandey also reiterated the government’s aim of listing the insurance giant LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India) by the end of this year.
“A mega listing in LIC is planned this year, which will be the biggest of its kind in the history of the Indian stock market,” he said.
The government has set a target of raising `1.75 trillion (£17bn) from privatisation of state-run enterprises in the current fiscal year, but the process had been significantly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
“A big asset monetisation pipeline is in place where the government looks forward to private sector participation,” he said.
“The government is also talking about closure of enterprises quite openly for the first time, in case it cannot be disinvested. In the non-strategic sectors, the direction is that either we privatise or close,” he added.