‘Disinvestment process is progressing as scheduled’

Eyeing Rs 58,425 crore this year by selling government stake in PSUs, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said that the disinvestment process is on schedule.

‘The Department of Disinvestment (DoD) has already appointed advisors in some cases and the follow-up actions on PSUs in which some part of equity is to be divested is already progressing as scheduled,’ he said after addressing the Central Board of the Reserve Bank.

The process for disinvestment in ONGC and NHPC, among others, has already been started.

Also, the government is looking to sell 5 per cent stake in SAIL and 10 per cent each in RINL and HAL in the current fiscal besides an outright sale of Tyre Corporation of India.

The disinvestment of 10 per cent through an initial public offer (IPO) in Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) is tentatively scheduled for completion in the current financial year.

The DoD is at present engaged in outright sale of only one CPSE, Tyre Corporation of India (TCIL).

Jaitley further said: ‘We have certainly given the figure involved in that and the DoD is working on it.’

On Syndicate Bank’s CMD alleged involvement in bribery case, FM said government is open to putting in place stringent steps to check repeat of criminal cases like the alleged Syndicate Bank bribery scandal.