Govt planning stake sale in BPCL

The Government today said it is planning to sell stake in Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and will take a final view after completion of inter-ministerial consultation.
"The issue regarding disinvestment of BPCL is presently at the inter-ministerial consultation stage. Decision can be taken only after the consultation process is over," Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.
He was replying to a query on whether the Government proposes to sell 3 per cent stake in BPCL to raise funds and the timing of the disinvestment.
At current trading price of Rs 963.50, a 3 per cent stake sale could fetch the government over Rs 2,090 crore.

The government holds 54.93 per cent stake in nation's second largest state oil firm BPCL. Divesting 3 per cent interest will help government keep its shareholding well above 51 per cent -- the minimum strategic holding it has decided to keep in key public sector units.
The government proposes to raise Rs 69,500 crore through disinvestment in the current fiscal. Of this, Rs 41,000 crore would come from disinvestment of CPSEs and Rs 28,500 crore from strategic stake sales.

Sinha said that the Government has identified some CPSEs for disinvestment in sectors that include defence, fertiliser, heavy engineering, mineral and metals, oil, power, steel, technical consultancy, tourism, transport services, trading and marketing.

The disinvestment department has drawn up a list of about two dozen PSUs for divestment. But volatile market conditions have dented its plans with stake sale happening in only one PSU, REC, so far this fiscal.
The pipeline for disinvestment includes ONGC, Indian Oil, Oil India, NTPC, BHEL, NALCO, NMDC, MMTC and Engineers India, among others.