The disinvestment department plans to skim off the cash balances of three oil public sector undertakings (PSUs), including Indian Oil Corporation, where the government has decided to retain majority stake, as part of a strategy to exceed the budgetary target of Rs 12,000 crore for 2002-03.
The department has reportedly written to finance minister Jaswant Singh suggesting drawing down of cash reserves of at least three major oil PSUs. The PSUs identified for the exercise include IOC, Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) and the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).
Earlier, the department had suggested the government could collect about Rs 25,000 crore through public offerings of equity in five major PSUs
