The government today approved the shareholders and share purchase agreements for Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd and IBP, paving the way for financial bids by January-end. It also cleared the revised sale programme for Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) and Hotel Corporation of India (HCI) properties which were not sold in the previous round.
For the first time, the government has candidly addressed the issue of valuation of land in public sector unit (PSU) divestment. For VSNL, it has decided to demerge the excess land of 1,400 acres into a separate company. If that cannot be done, the share holders