Government ends FY20 divestment programme with Rs 14,700-cr shortfall

The Centre ended the divestment programme for 2019-20 with proceeds of Rs 50,298.6 crore, a shortfall of Rs 14,701 crore, compared with the Revised Estimates of Rs 65,000 crore. The Centre’s divestment plans for February and March, which included a number of offers-for-sales, an initial public offering (IPO) and a Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India (SUUTI) sale, were hit first by the markets reacting to economic slowdown, and then to the Covid-19 pandemic.
 

The last three deals finalised were that of the sale of the government’s 100 per cent stake in NEEPCO and 75 per cent stake in THDC to NTPC, which together fetched the Centre Rs 11,500 crore, and the sale of its 67 per cent stake in Kamarajar Port to Chennai Port Trust.

Caption: CPSE: Central Public Sector Enterprises, RVNL: Rail Vikas Nigam, ETF: Exchange-traded fund, IRCTC: Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, MOIL: Manganese Ore India, MDL: Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, THDC: Tehri Hydro Development Corp

The planned IPO of Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) and an Rs 8,000-crore sale of the Centre’s stake in ITC and Axis Bank through SUUTI, have now been put on hold. A number of OFSs, including SAIL, NMDC, PFC, Coal India, IRCON, Hindustan Aeronautics, and others have also been scrapped.