A day after the government announced steps to revive the stalled divestment programme, the Divestment Commission on Tuesday said it had begun preliminary work on submitting proposals for offloading government equity in as many as 12 PSUs, including telecom majors Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd.

When contacted, member secretary Amitabha Bhattacharya said the commission was currently working on submitting proposals for divestment of public equity in as many as 12 companies but declined to give the names.

The commission is understood to be studying the case of Power Finance Corporation, Rural Electrification Corporation, Central Mine Planning and Design Institute, Cotton Corporation, Hoogly Dock and Port Engineering, National Building Construction Corporation, Rajasthan Drugs and Pharmaceuticals, Indian Medicine Pharma Corporation, and Jute Corporation.

When asked how soon the commission would be able to wrap up the exercise, Bhattacharya remained non-committal.

However, going by the speed with which the commission has been working (at the rate of four reports in last two months), it is expected to submit most of the proposals by March 2003.

He said the commission was likely to submit a set of proposals covering four companies within a month, but declined to identify the names.