The government has asked its PSUs to expedite capital restructuring to ensure higher returns on public investments.
"To get higher returns from GoI (Government of India) investments, DIPAM asks CPSEs to follow guidelines on capital restructuring and expedite exemption proposals," DIPAM Secretary Neeraj Kumar Gupta tweeted.
Last year, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) had issued fresh guidelines on capital restructuring of CPSEs, which stated that every CPSE would pay a minimum annual dividend of 30 per cent of profit after tax or 5 per cent of net worth, whichever is higher.
The DIPAM has mandated that every CPSE having net worth of at least Rs 2,000 crore and cash and bank balance of over Rs 1,000 crore will exercise the option to buy back their shares.
A senior government official said the government will continue to push for share buybacks and cash-rich central public sector enterprises are expected to lead this drive to ensure the Rs 72,500 crore target is met.
The government has already identified seven state-run firms, including blue-chips such as NTPC, PFC and SAIL, for stake sale. It will divest 10 per cent stake in NHPC, NTPC, SAIL and PFC, 5 per cent in REC, and 3 per cent in IOC.
Of the total target, Rs 46,500 crore will be raised through disinvestment of minority stake.
Earlier this year, the DIPAM had comes out with the mechanism for listing of state-owned firms. The government will look to list all its companies that have a positive net worth, no accumulated losses and have earned net profit consecutively in the three preceding years.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)