Govt to sell some stake in Hindustan Zinc this fiscal: DIPAM Secy

New Delhi: The government is likely to sell a part of its residual stake in Hindustan Zinc Ltd by next month to help it achieve the revised sell-off target of Rs 50,000 crore for the current fiscal, DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said on Thursday.

For the coming fiscal, the government has lined up strategic stake sales in companies like HLL Lifecare, PDIL, Shipping Corporation and BEML to meet the similar disinvestment target set in the 2023-24 Budget.

The government currently holds a 29.54 per cent stake in Hindustan Zinc or HZL. In 2002, it sold 26 per cent of HZL to the mining billionaire Anil Agarwal-led group.

Vedanta group later bought 20 per cent from the market and another 18.92 per cent from the government in November 2003, raising its ownership to 64.92 per cent in HZL, which is the world’s second-largest integrated Zinc producer and sixth-largest silver producer globally.

The government on Wednesday lowered the disinvestment target for the current fiscal (2022-23) to Rs 50,000 crore from Rs 65,000 crore budgeted last year.

So far this fiscal, Rs 31,100 crore has been raised by way of minority stake sale in CPSE, and share buyback.

In an interview with PTI, the secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), said the revised target includes all the transactions that the government is working on, but actual realisation will depend on market conditions.

“It includes what we had intended we will raise from HZL. It would depend on the market,” Pandey said.

The government currently holds a 29.54 per cent stake in HZL, while a 5.54 per cent stake is with public shareholders. Mining mogul Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Ltd is the promoter holding a 64.92 per cent stake in HZL.