| The government's exit from carmaker Maruti Udyog may not happen for sometime now, with the finance minister asking the heavy industries ministry to "wait for an opportune time" to offload its residual stake in the company. |
| The suggestion came during a meeting Heavy Industries Minister Santosh Mohan Deb had with Finance Minister P Chidambaram yesterday. |
| When contacted, Deb said the finance minister was in favour of waiting for some time before deciding to offload the remaining 10.27 per cent stake the government had in Maruti. |
| "The finance minister said that this was not an opportune time to sell the stake," he said. |
| He said the finance ministry was in favour of "getting the maximum out of it (stake sale)". The opposition to any immediate sale comes days after Deb had said the government had initiated the process of selling all its holding in Maruti to raise more than Rs 2,500 crore. |
| "We have offered to sell 10.27 per cent stake that the government has in Maruti. Now it is up to the finance ministry to take a call," Deb had said earlier this week. |
| Sources said the finance ministry wanted the stock markets to stabilise before taking any final call on the matter. The government stake in the company is held by the ministry of heavy industries. |
| Based on the current market price of the company's scrip in the stock exchanges, the government is likely to raise around Rs 2,500 crore if it decides to sell now. |
| As all disinvestment in public sector companies has been called off for now, sale of shares in erstwhile PSU Maruti could offer the much-needed resources to the government. |
| Last year, the government had sold 8 per cent shares in Maruti for more than Rs 1,567 crore to public sector financial institutions. |
| At that time itself, the government had announced that it would completely exit the company in 2006. |
| The government's holding in the company has come down to 10.27 per cent and it no longer has a director on the board of the Maruti. |
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