| At the recent quarterly performance review, it was pointed out that the disinvestment ministry could not stop the selloff process in the public sector mining company on the basis of a public announcement made by the Prime Minister. |
| "Since the decision to disinvest the company was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD), the decision to halt the process has to be cleared by the same committee," government officials told Business Standard. |
| They pointed out that the disinvestment ministry could not drop or delay the sale option "" strategic or through market offering "" without the Cabinet's approval. |
| The Nalco selloff process was put on hold after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee ruled out, for the time being, disinvestment in the public sector mining major at a public meeting near Bhubaneshwar on July 15 this year. |
| The government intended to offload 10 per cent of its holding in the company through a domestic issue and 20 per cent through an American depository receipts (ADR) issue towards the end of this calendar year. |
| PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the auditor for the sale, was planning a visit to the company around the time that the disinvestment ministry stopped all work on its sale, following Vajpayee's announcement. |
| PwC wanted the government to provide security to its staff for on-site scrutiny of accounts. PwC's request was prompted by the manhandling of a team from Hindalco, a part of the Aditya Birla group, last October. The team had gone for due diligence of the plant, as the government had initially planned a strategic sale of 29.15 per cent in addition to the market float. |
| Following protests by the Nalco Employees' Union, the strategic sale part was dropped from the disinvestment plan. |
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