Government may lower disinvestment target for current fiscal

MUMBAI: The government on Monday indicated it may lower the Rs 40,000 crore disinvestment target for the current fiscal in view of the recent bloodbath in the stock markets on account of global uncertainty.

"It is difficult to say, if the the current target will remain intact or revised," Disinvestment Secretary Mohammed Haleem Khan told reporters here when asked if the government is contemplating to lower the disinvestment target for the current fiscal.

As against the ambitious target of raising Rs 40,000 crore from sale of shares of the state-owned enterprises, the Government has so far raised a little over Rs 1,144 crore by offloading stake in the Power Finance Corporation.

Following the downgrade of sovereign credit rating of the US to AA+ from AAA by Standard and Poor's, the BSE Sensex plunged to below 17,000 mark during the intra-day trade before reducing losses.

"There are a few companies in the pipeline for disinvestment, but it is difficult to say when. We have a set of professional advisors to advise us on disinvestment," Khan said, adding the government is monitoring the situation.

A senior official in the Disinvestment Department had earlier said that the government hopes to raise a little over Rs 15,000 crore through share sale of PFC, SAIL, ONGC and HCL. PFC follow-on offer hit the market in May.

RINL, MMTC and NBCC was also on the government's radar for disinvestment but the current financial turmoil may prompt the government to postpone equity sale.

Last fiscal, the government had raised Rs 22,763 crore from sale of equity in public sector enterprises against a target of Rs 40,000 crore. It offloaded equity in SJVN, Engineers India, Coal India, PowerGrid, and Shipping Corporation of India.

The Indian stock market never made a prolonged bull run so far in the current fiscal in the wake of debt crisis in Europe, stubborn inflation within the country and a series of rate hikes by the Reserve Bank.