Following the strong pressure from trade unions, the Coal Ministry has scaled down the disinvestment of state-run Coal India Limited (CIL) to 5 per cent from the originally proposed 10 per cent stake sale which had sought to raise Rs. 20,000 crore.
Government's original plan was to sell 10 per cent stake in Coal India to raise Rs. 20,000 crore, but the proposal had met with stiff resistance from trade unions who threatened to go on strike. Following prolonged talks with the unions, the government has now scaled down the investment to 5 per cent through open market, with the remaining through other options like share buyback.
Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said, “This was our third meeting with the trade unions. On the advise of trade unions we have decided that instead of 10 per cent there would disinvestment of 5 per cent in CIL. For the remaining five per cent, the government will devise some other mechanism. The trade unions are ready for this.”
Mr. Jaiswal also expressed the hope that disinvestment in CIL will happen soon. The Coal Ministry will again hold a meeting with the trade unions to deliberate on some of the other issues. CIL employees had earlier threatened to go on strike if the government went ahead with 10 per cent stake sale in the PSU major. The government currently holds 90 per cent stake in Coal India, which is valued at Rs. 1,88,227 crore.
