Disinvestment in state-run Hindustan Copper, which aims to raise Rs 4,000 crore, has further been deferred and may now take place either in February or after the budget, a top official said.
Earlier, the follow-on-public offer (FPO) of the company, was expected to open on December 6 and close on December 9 but it was deferred to January next year.
"Department of Disinvestment and Ministry of Mines has so far not finalised a date for the FPO and now it is likely to be either in February or after the budget," a top company official told PTI.
Earlier this month, Disinvestment Secretary Sumit Bose has said that after Shipping Corporation there would be no public offer in December this year.
The FPO proceeds will be utilised for expansion projects of the company, the official said.
Mines Minister B K Handique earlier this month had said that the company intends to utilise the capital raised mainly for ramping up its production to 12 million tonne per annum (MTPA) from current 3.15 MTPA by 2017.
The step of disinvestment is being taken to meet the mandatory requirement of market regulator Sebi for 10 per cent public shareholding, as HCL is a listed company on stock exchange, Handique had said.
The Cabinet in June had approved the disinvestment of 10 per cent paid up equity capital of HCL out of government's shareholding along with issue of fresh equity of equal size by the company.
HCL's 0.41 per cent stake is already with the public. The proposed FPO will see the government holding coming down to 81.44 per cent from the present 99.59 per cent.
In July, the copper producer had appointed UBS Securities, ICICI Securities, SBI Capital, Kotak Mahindra and Enam Securities as the managers of the issue.
HCL had filed a draft prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India in September for its proposed share sale programme.
HCL's stake sale programme is part of the government plans to raise Rs 40,000 crore through divestment in state-run PSUs this fiscal, while it had garnered Rs 25,000 crore through disinvestment in Oil India, NMDC, REC and NTPC last fiscal.