Jaitley hints at more divestment in next two months, target of Rs 45,000 crore to be met

With less than two months to go for the current financial year to end, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has exuded confidence that receipts from PSU disinvestment will touch Rs 45,000 crore in 2016-17.

About Rs 30,000 crore have been raised through minority share sale by way of OFS, share buyback and CPSE ETF, so far in the current fiscal.

“It’s true this government does not make a song and dance about disinvestment. I fix a target in every Budget...this year, I am going to touch Rs 45,000 crore in one year,” he said talking to one of the TV channel.

Referring to his Budget Speech, Jaitley said that he had announced listing of a large number of PSUs on the stock exchanges.

“So, PSUs which are not listed, will now be going into the stock exchange...(and) once they go into stock exchange again will necessarily entail disinvestment of each one of them, and some of them are huge,” the Finance Minister said.

In his Budget speech on February 1, the Finance Minister had also said that the government will put in place a revised mechanism and procedure to ensure time-bound listing of identified CPSEs as listing will foster greater public accountability and unlock their true value.

The government aims to raise Rs 72,500 crore through disinvestment of PSUs, including listing of three railway PSUs -- IRCTC, IRFC and IRCON—during 2017-18.

Besides, the government also plans to sell its stake in five PSU general insurance companies which is expected to fetch about Rs 11,000 core.

Fiscal 2016-17 is the seventh year in a row when the government would not be meeting the disinvestment target fixed in the Budget. As much as Rs 56,500 crore was budgeted to be raised through PSU disinvestment in the current fiscal.