The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved sale of equity in four state-owned companies including ONGC and NMDC which may fetch the exchequer Rs 22,574 crore, the Lok Sabha was informed today.
The government has cleared 5 per cent stake sale in the ONGC which could yield Rs 13,217 crore, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply.
Based on the market price of shares on March 16, 2015, the 10 per cent stake sale in NMDC and Nalco each would fetch the government approximately Rs 5,038 crore and Rs 1,190 crore respectively, he said.
He further said that 5 per cent stake sale in BHEL could yield as much as Rs 3,129 crore.
The expected realisation, Sinha said, is based on the share prices on March 16, 2015 and after taking into account discount provide to retail investors.
The government has received Rs 24,200 crore from disinvestment of shares in state-owned companies in the 2014-15 financial year.
As regards 2015-16, the government proposes to mop up Rs 69,500 crore through PSU disinvestment and strategic sale of shares.
Disinvestment is one of the ways to contain fiscal deficit, Sinha said, adding it was likely to be Rs 5.12 lakh crore in 2014-15. The government proposes to reduce fiscal deficit to 3.9 per cent of GDP in 2015-16 from 4.1 per cent in the current financial year.
"Government takes various revenue raising measures that have an impact on fiscal deficit and disinvestment is one of them.
"Listing and disinvestment of CPSEs, in general, has been seen to improve efficiency of CPSEs. CPSEs also take a number of measures for enhancing their efficiency," Sinha added.
