The Centre is likely to miss the disinvestment target of Rs.40,000 crore for the current fiscal as the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Wednesday failed to reach a consensus on selling the government's stake in ONGC and BHEL.
“The government is considering the auction route for ONGC (disinvestment)...no timeline fixed as yet. The EGoM will meet again shortly,” Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister S. Jaipal Reddy said here while briefing journalists after the EGoM.
On the BHEL issue, Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Praful Patel said no decision could be taken on the issue and that the stake sale might happen in 2012-13. The EGoM had met to decide on the disinvestment in the two major government-owned firms aimed at garnering around Rs.14,500 crore in 2011-12.
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So far the government has been able to garner only Rs.1,145 crore by diluting its share in Power Finance Corporation (PFC).
It is expected that a 5 per cent stake sale in ONGC would help the government fetch Rs.12,000 crore, while the BHEL disinvestment could bring in Rs.5,000 crore. Last fiscal, the government had raised around Rs.22,500 crore through stake sale in PSUs.
Meanwhile, Disinvestment Secretary Mohammad Haleem Khan said it was now almost impossible to meet the disinvestment target set for the current fiscal. “Everybody knows that Rs.40,000 crore is now almost impossible,” he said.
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