Steel Secretary Atul Chaturvedi today said the government is planning to go for further disinvestment in navratna public sector company SAIL and weighing partial stake sale in Manganese Ore India (MOIL).
"The disinvestment in SAIL is definitely going to come next year. The Cabinet is yet to take a decision but it will happen by this fiscal," Chaturvedi told PTI on the sidelines of a conference here.
"We should have a decision on hand by March and it will be implemented next year," Chaturvedi said.
The government holds about 85 per cent stake in SAIL at present. Manganese Ore (India) is also a potential candidate for disinvestment, Chaturvedi said.
MOIL was formed with 51 per cent capital held between the Central Government and the State Governments of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and the balance 49 per cent by Central Provinces Manganese Ore Company (CPMO), a British Company incorporated in the UK.
In 1977, the 49 per cent shareholding was acquired from CPMO and MOIL became a 100 per cent government Company under the administrative control of the Ministry of Steel.
At present, MOIL operates 10 mines, six located in the Nagpur and Bhandara districts of Maharashtra and four in the Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh. All these mines are about a century old.
The total production of manganese ore from all the mines constitutes about 65 per cent of requirement of the country. At present, the annual production is around 1.4 million tonnes.
