Modi Govt Eyes Privatisation Of 5-6 PSUs This Fiscal, LIC IPO in January-March: Report

DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey says the government is eyeing to close the privatisation of BEML, Shipping Corporation of India, and Central Electronics.

LIC | File Image

New Delhi: The central government wants to privatise five to six state-owned companies, including Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), in the current fiscal year, said Tuhin Kanta Pandey, secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), according to a Reuters report.

The DIPAM secretary in a meeting on Wednesday said the government is eyeing to close the privatisation of BEML, Shipping Corporation of India, and Central Electronics.  

The other companies which are on the Centre’s radar for privatisation are Pawan Hans and Nilachal Ispat Nigam as these firms have garnered sufficient interest from bidders, the DIPAM secretary said at a CII Annual Session in August.

The government is back on track after Air India's divestment, as it intends to privatise other public sector undertakings (PSUs) in the current fiscal year.

In the Union Budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken about several reforms on the government’s ambitious plan to monetize around 100 PSUs to achieve Rs 2.5-trillion investment.

The government is also working to launch the Initial Public Offering (IPO) in January-March, Pandey said.

According to a Bloomberg report, the government is seeking to raise as much as Rs 10 trillion by selling up to a 10 percent stake. The sale of a 5 percent stake would make it the largest IPO of the country, while a dilution of 10 percent would make it the second-biggest of an insurer globally.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a Bloomberg interview last month said, “We are pushing to have it done.”

The government had announced plans to sell shares of LIC in February 2020, however, the outbreak of Covid-19 slowed the process.