The Indian government has decided to go ahead with the disinvestment of state-owned Manganese Ore India Ltd, even as it shelved plans for further equity dilution in the ailing KIOCL.
"KIOCL is not a case for disinvestment as of now. Currently, its strategic partnership with NMDC is being worked out. Moreover, we will be sending the proposal for disinvestment of MOIL shortly (to Finance Ministry)," Steel Secretary P K Rastogi told reporters.
The government is likely to offload 10 percent equity in MOIL, which is engaged in mining of manganese and production of ferro alloys.
Meanwhile, the government has put on hold the proposal to offload about 9 per cent equity in the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL), which was closed down last year.
The Finance Ministry had earlier asked its counterpart in the steel ministry to work on divesting stakes in navratna firms NMDC, MOIL and KIOCL, as part of a broader plan to mobilise resources to meet their funding needs.
The government is likely to earn about Rs 102 crore by divesting 10 percent stake in MOIL. It has also been planning to list the company for the past one year now.
The government may also sell a minimum of 8.3 percent stake in already listed NMDC Ltd, which may fetch it over Rs 10,000 crore. It has already offloaded about 1.7 percent of its equity in the country's largest iron ore firm.
About 1 percent stake in Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd (KIOCL) is already offloaded and is listed in regional stock exchanges. As per the 100-day agenda, the government is planning to make it a subsidiary of NMDC and give life to the company shut since last year.
Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla yesterday said that the disinvestment programme will kick off with the dilution of government equity in listed entities, where public holding is less.
Apart from the PSUs under the steel ministry, the government is learnt to have identified MMTC, Coal India Ltd, Hindustan Copper, Oil India Ltd and NHPC for disinvestment.
At the time of presenting the Union Budget for the current fiscal, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that while retaining the 51 percent stake in the PSUs, the government is committed to the disinvestment programme.
He also added that the public holding in the listed state-run entities should be raised in a phase-wise manner.
The Economic Survey had suggested the government to raise up to Rs 25,000 crore through selling its stake in PSUs.
Source: Zee News
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