Govt likely to sell a minority participation in half a dozen state companies: DIPAM secretary

The government plans to sell minority holdings in approximately half a dozen public enterprises, said the secretary of the Ministry of Disinvestment and the Management of Public Assets (DIPAM) Arunish Chawla at CNBC-TV18. However, he did not confirm which companies will be taken into account for the sale of stakes.

The government plans to sell shares of five public sector banks, including UCO Bank and Bank of Maharashtra, as well as to reduce its participation in the country’s largest insurer, Life Insurance Corporation of India to comply with the minimum public shareholding standards of the market regulator. Meanwhile, the NGB and the NHPC also explored the list of their green arms, the NGC Green Energy and the NHPC Renewable Energy, respectively.

Chawla told the TV channel of the Network18 Reforms Reloaded 2025 event in New Delhi that the government provides for the initial public offer (IPO) of a company managed by the state in the natural resources sector during the current financial year. Chawla said the ministry would beat its RS 47,000 divestment goal in the current financial year.

The manager added that there would be more offers to sell (OFS), few IPOs and more value creation opportunities for the small detail investor. “We started with a few apple sales at the beginning of the year, we kept a little bit of nervousness, but as the markets stabilized, we will bring value creation opportunities for small investors. We will bring more SS, we will bring sales of minority apples, we will bring some IPOs and we accelerate this trip,” he said.

Chawla also expressed its optimism that the disinvestment of the IDBI bank would be completed by the end of the year.

The DIPAM secretary said that insurance and defense areas can see measures with regard to the IPO.