The finance ministry will reach out to government think tank Niti Aayog to draw a new list for disinvestment in a few select sectors like aviation, oil and gas, mining, power and heavy industries and suggest in detail the methodology to be adopted for sale of government shares in different target sectors.
For this, the department of public enterprises may be roped in to make a full catalogue of sick, profit making, strategic and non-strategic companies for each sector which can be considered for disinvestment and also provide a list ready for reference, said sources.
The idea of the finance ministry to be in the loop of Niti Aayog's selection and methodology of disinvestment is to not run into any serious differences with think tank’s proposals. In June this year, the finance ministry had turned down Niti Aayog’s disinvestment proposal of reducing the Centre’s stake in non-strategic public sector companies to below 50 per cent and giving out management control to privatisation. The finance ministry is not favourable to the idea of losing control over non-strategic PSUs that include big PSUs like NTPC, Power Grid and Steel Authority of India.
“It is best to remain updated at the stage of selection of these disinvestment targets. We have zeroed in on sectors to proceed with focus and quick decisions,” the source said, adding that the government at this stage does not want any telecom PSU to be under disinvestment.
The disinvestment target for this fiscal is Rs 80,000 crore and the pace of disinvestment has just picked up with the CPSE ETF fourth tranche garnering Rs 17,000 crore last week, totalling Rs 32,000 crore so far. In fact the Rs 17,000 crore raised from disinvestment is also the largest ever equity fund offering through ETF in India, as per analysts. The CPSE ETF comprises shares of 11 state-run companies, including ONGC, Coal India, IOC, Oil India, PFC, REC and Bharat Electronics.
Meanwhile, the DIPAM secretary in Mumbai said the Centre has received “substantial” interest for Pawan Hans stake sale while plans for Air India disinvestment also continue. He also said more provident fund money can be deployed in CPSE ETFs.
Niti Aayog, which has the mandate to identify public sector undertakings for disinvestments, had submitted its fifth list to the finance ministry in May this year. It contained names of 11 public sector enterprises for strategic disinvestment that included Hindustan Copper and Mecon. Last November, Niti Aayog had suggested strategic disinvestment of 34 sick public sector units after the PMO had asked them to look into the viability of sick state-run companies.
Currently, the IPO process of MSTC is going on at the disinvestment ministry, and also for the strategic disinvestment of Bridge and Roof. The other mid way processes are NEEPCO and Bharat Electronics.