Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced in his budget speech the roll out of a Exchange-Traded Fund and a proposal to list three Railway PSEs.
He said that in 2017-18, the government will unveil an ETF with diversified CPSE stocks and other government holdings.
The present ETF, with shares of 10 CPSEs, has generated good response in the recent Further Fund Offering and will continue to be a vehicle for further divestment of CPSE shares, Mr. Jaitley said.
The government also plans to list railway PSEs — catering and e-ticketing outfit IRCTC, finance outfit IRFC and consultancy arm IRCON — the Minister said, adding that a revised procedure to ensure time-bound listing of identified central public sector enterprises is proposed.
The government has also sniffed out opportunities to strengthen its companies through consolidation, mergers and acquisitions.
These announcements received only a muted welcome from the industry.
Sunil Mitra, former Revenue and Disinvestment Secretary and Bengal Chamber’s Economic Affairs Committee head, expressed disappointment that no target had been announced on divestment. “There is no announcement on strategic sale of PSU stakes,” he said.
Naushad Forbes, president, CII, said that industry welcomes the move for time-bound listing of CPSEs.
