India aims $11b at asset sale target

India is asking private equity funds to invest in profit making state-controlled companies as Asia’s third biggest economy seeks to meet its asset sale target of 725 billion rupees ($11 billion) for next financial year.

The government is inviting buyout firms to “look into the opportunity of picking up strategic stakes in state assets, whether as a technology or enterprise partner directly, or in whatever form,” Neeraj Kumar Gupta, secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management in India’s Finance Ministry told a Bloomberg private equity forum on Friday in Mumbai.