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The Finance Ministry has moved a Cabinet note for disinvestment in State Trading Corporation (STC) and ITDC to make the PSUs compliant with minimum public shareholding norms of Sebi.
The disinvestment department has sought Cabinet nod to offload 5% stake in India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) and 1.02% in STC through the Offer For Sale (OFS) route, a Finance Ministry official told PTI.
The department has moved a draft Cabinet note in this regard to seek comments from ministries, the official added.
The government expects the sale of 5% stake or 42.88 crore shares in ITDC to fetch Rs 23.58 crore.
Besides, it aims to garner about Rs 10 crore through disinvestment of 1.02% or 6.13 crore shares in STC.
Government currently holds 92.11% stake in ITDC and 91.02% stake in STC.
The government has to bring down its stake in the companies to 90% by August 8 to meet the minimum public holding norms of market regulator Sebi.
At the end of 2012-13 fiscal, the paid up capital of ITDC stood at Rs 86 crore and earned a net profit of Rs 19 crore.
For STC, the paid up capital stands at Rs 60 crore and net profit at Rs 18 crore for 2012-13 fiscal.
Following the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), the EGoM on disinvestment would decide on the floor price for stake sale in the two companies.
Further, the disinvestment department has also sought CCEA approval for allotting shares to employees of the companies at a 5% discount to the last cut-off price in the OFS.
The government uses the OFS route, popularly known as auction method, to divest its stake in PSUs and to make firms compliant with 10% minimum public holding.
It has already used the route to sell stake in MMTC, Oil India, NTPC, NMDC and Hindustan Copper.
The government targets to raise Rs 40,000 crore by way of disinvestment in the current fiscal. So far, it has raised Rs 568 crore through stake sale in MMTC.
