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Oil Ministry clears part stake sale

By The Assam Tribune

NEW DELHI, Sept 6 � The Oil Ministry has approved part sale of government�s stake in Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) as well as Indian Oil Crop (IOC), a move that could fetch about Rs 24,000 crore for the Centre this fiscal, reports PTI.

IOC would be the first to be disinvested, an Oil Ministry official said.

Alongside the 10 per cent government stake sale, the company will do a follow-on public offer (FPO) of its 10 per cent expanded equity to raise close to Rs 9,000 crore for part-financing its capital expenditure.

The ONGC issue, in which the government would offload 5 per cent stake, would follow IOC. But before its FPO, the company may issue bonus shares and split stock, the official said.

Oil Minister Murli Deora had for more than two weeks held back his consent to the Finance Ministry�s proposal to include ONGC and IOC in the list of public sector units slated for disinvestment this fiscal.

�The Minister approved of the divestment a few days back,� the official said.

However, despite the absence of consent from Deora, a Committee of Secretaries (CoS) had on August 17 included the two companies in the list of PSUs that have been shortlisted for disinvestment this fiscal.

The CoS has directed the Oil Ministry to obtain approval from the Appointments Committee of Cabinet for selecting non-official directors on the Boards of ONGC and IOC so that the �disinvestment process is not hampered due to the non-appointment of independent directors.�

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