Falling share prices likely to hit Centre's disinvestment target

Investment bankers said the falling share price of PSUs would mean that the government would not only miss the disinvestment target but also not get good valuation

The Centre’s disinvestment target of raising Rs 1.05 trillion for 2019-20 may take a hit as the stocks of several public sector undertakings (PSUs) hit all-time lows on Thursday. Some of these are trading at multi-decade lows. The BSE PSU index is down 22 per cent in the trailing 52 weeks and 16 per cent since January.

In comparison, the Sensex is down 4.7 per cent in the past 12 months and is still in the green for 2019, with gains of 1.1 per cent. The target for disinvestment receipts was increased to Rs 1.05 trillion for FY20 in the Budget.