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Divestment Target Achievable With Seven Months To Go: MoS Finance Bhagwat Karad

"We've (so far) gotten Rs 24,000 crore this year, some more companies are in the pipeline," he said.

<div class="paragraphs"><p>(Image: Dr. Bhagwat Karad/Twitter)</p></div>
(Image: Dr. Bhagwat Karad/Twitter)

Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, union minister of state for finance, has said that India’s divestment target for the ongoing fiscal is “still achievable” with close to seven more months to go.

The disinvestment target for FY23 stands at Rs 65,000 crore, and the disinvestment is for companies that can further do better, he explained. The target, he said, could still be achieved. “Hardly five months have gone by, we have seven months to go.”

“We’ve (so far) gotten Rs 24,000 crore this year, some more companies are in the pipeline,” he told BQ Prime.

According to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, the government’s total investment receipts stand at Rs 24,544 crore. Of this, Life Insurance Corp.’s initial public offering contribution stands at Rs 20,516 crore.

A pause on the proposed divestment process of three companies, however, poses as a challenge.

In case of Central Electronics Ltd., the government put on hold the letter of intent in favour of Nadal Finance & Leasing Co. for a 100% sale at Rs 210 crore in January. This was after the employees’ association of CEL had approached the Delhi High Court against its privatisation.

DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey in January had said allegations of under-valuation in the Rs 210-crore highest bid made by Nandal Finance are being examined. The letter of intent for the sale of the government shareholding in CEL to Nandal Finance has not been issued as the allegations are being examined, he had told PTI.

Also, Bharat Petroleum Corp.’s disinvestment process is expected to restart as interested parties pulled out.

“In response to the invitation, multiple EoIs (expressions of interest) were received from interested parties. However, the Covid-19 pandemic, energy transition issues and geopolitical conditions affected several industries globally, particularly oil and gas industry,” Karad had said in response to a parliamentary question in the recently concluded monsoon session. “Due to these factors, the majority of qualified interested parties have expressed their inability to continue in the current process of disinvestment of BPCL.”

The government has decided to call off the existing EoI process for strategic disinvestment of BPCL and the timeline for its re-initiation remains under review, he said.

Finally, in case of helicopter services provider Pawan Hans, the strategic sale was put on hold after the National Company Law Tribunal passed an adverse order against one of the members of the winning consortium.

Watch the full conversation here: