Stiff divestment target of `2.10L-cr to finance govt

Stiffer divestment target of `2.10 lakh crore, double of current fiscal year target of `1.05 lakh crore and higher than even last five years divestment receipts surprised everyone.

The government has not been able to achieve the target this year so far with just `18,095 crore collected so far and only 60 more days to go.

“A tall divestment target will be keenly monitored but signifies a big intent towards fiscal prudence,” said Sailesh Raj Bhan, deputy CIO — Equity Investments, Nippon India Mutual Fund.

But divestment department is confident with strategic sales of BPCL, Concor, Shipping Corporation of India, Air India, IDBI and LIC IPO coming. The ground work has already been done this year to reap rewards in the next fiscal year, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, secretary, Department of Investment and Public

Asset Management said.

During the Current Financial Year 2019-20 so far `18,094.59 crore has been obtained through disinvestment transactions. As on March 31,

2019, the Government had realised `84,972.16 crore as disinvestment proceeds against the budget estimate of `80,000 crore during the financial year

2018-19. Government is targeting `90,000 crore divestment receipt from financial entities including the initial public offering from LIC and sale of remaining stake in IDBI Bank. Some more PSU banks could see dilution of government stakes going forward after IDBI stake sale, experts said.

The debt-based exchange traded fund (ETF) recently floated by the government was a big success as it mopped up `12,400 crore.

“Government proposes to expand this by floating a new Debt-ETF consisting primarily of government securities,” the Union finance minister said.