Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, on Thursday, maintained that the government would go ahead with the proposed divestment in Coal India Ltd. (CIL) after the ‘voices of protest’ in the trade union is sorted out through discussions with the Ministry of Coal. A stake sale of 10 per cent of the Centre’s equity is expected to fetch Rs.20,000 crore to the exchequer.
“CIL disinvestment is on the list of companies that we have to disinvest in. But, the Ministry is talking to the union.
“There are some voices of protest. We will explain to them,” Mr. Chidambaram said at a press conference here.
While the Centre currently has a 90 per cent stake in the coal major, an inter-ministerial panel had last month had approved a 10 per cent offloading of the government’s holding.