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Informist, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024

 

 

NEW DELHI – The finance ministry is currently working on the divestment of IDBI Bank and seven public sector companies, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said on Tuesday. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management had already called expressions of interest to sell its stake in the companies.

 

The seven PSUs undergoing divestment include BEML Ltd, Shipping Corp. of India Ltd, HLL Lifecare Ltd., Project & Development India Ltd., NMDC Steel Ltd., Ferro Scrap Nigam Ltd., and Indian Medicines Pharmaceuticals Corp. Ltd., Chaudhary told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply. Out of these, Ferro Scrap Nigam's divestment is in the concluding stage, Chaudhary added.  

 

In October, MSTC Ltd. had signed an agreement with Japanese conglomerate Konoike Transport Co. Ltd. to transfer its entire stake in its subsidiary Ferro Scrap Nigam to the latter. The government had approved the strategic sale of the metal and mining company to Konoike Transport in September.

 

There are six PSUs--Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., Pawan Hans Ltd., Central Electronics Ltd., steel plants under Steel Authority of India Ltd., Container Corp. of India Ltd., and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd.--where the government is yet to call for initial bids. Out of these, the government has to issue expressions of interest in the former three for the second time as it had to call off the divestment process initiated earlier.

 

There are three PSUs whose divestment process the administrative ministries are overseeing, Chaudhary said giving a report on the status of various divestment transactions. Also, there are five transactions that have been halted as the companies asked for it, and the divestment of Karnataka Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is held up due to litigation, the minister added. 

 

The government has been slow on PSU divestment in the last few years. In fact, it decided to remove the Budget estimate for divestment receipts in February. The government has substituted this with 'miscellaneous capital receipts' that include proceeds from PSU divestment as well as asset monetisation. For 2024-25 (Apr-Mar), the government has projected miscellaneous capital receipts at INR 500 billion.  End

 

Reported by Krity Ambey

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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