"Response from retail investors has been very good as is evident from the number of calls we are receiving every day," Vijesh Gonsalves, executive director, Goldman Sachs, the fund manager of the first of its kind government-backed ETF involving the equity shares of ten PSUs, said here today.
Bids valued about Rs 1,800 crore that include the subscription for Rs 850 crore out of Rs 900 crore reserved for anchor investors has been received by the company till yesterday, he said.
The disinvestment target for the year 2013-14 was scaled down from the original target of Rs 30,000 crore by the government as the stake sale plan with regard to some of the PSUs did not go as planned, according to Sangita Choure, joint secretary, Department of Disinvestment, Ministry of Finance.
The government so far undertook two follow-on public offers (FPOs), six offers for sale (OFS), one buy-back offer besides the present ETF to achieve the disinvestment targets during the current year and these offers were also made partly in compliance of public share holding norms, she said on the sidelines of the road show organised in connection with the CPSE ETF.
While the government keeps all these routes of divestment open for future disinvestment plans, OFS was found to be much easier and quicker mode, according to her. Responding to a question on the candidates for future disinvestment plan, she said it all depends up on the policy of of the next government.
Admitting that the shares of some of the companies that were included in the ETF have not been performing well, Vijesh Gonsalves, however said a strong government expected after the elections will benefit the public sector in a big way.