Coal India trade unions have agreed for 5 percent disinvestment - minister

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Major trade unions of state-owned Coal India have agreed to allow a five percent disinvestment in the company instead of the planned 10 percent, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said on Tuesday.

The Indian government has been keen to sell 10 percent stake in Coal India through a share auction to achieve its target of raising 40 billion rupees through stake sales in the current fiscal year.

A five percent stake sale will fetch the government about $1.5 billion at current market price.

Coal India's trade unions had earlier threatened to go on an indefinite strike if the government went ahead with the sale.

 

(Reporting by Malini Menon; Editing by Jijo Jacob)