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Govt may call final bids for SCI in June

The government is likely to invite financial bids for a 51 per cent stake in the country's largest liner Shipping Corporation of India by end-June, a source close to the privatisation process said on Friday.

"The deal could be finalised by mid-July," the official, who did not want to be named, told Reuters.

The government owns 80 per cent of SCI, which has a fleet of 94 ships, about 40 per cent of India's total tonnage.

The official said seven companies were expected to complete the due diligence process by the middle of next month.

Among the contenders are India's largest private shipping firm Great Eastern Shipping Company Ltd and the No 2 private liner Essar Shipping.

Indian oil services firm Aban Loyd Chiles Offshore Ltd, along with Qatar Shipping Co, are jointly in the race.

Others include Malaysian International Shipping Corporation Bhd, copper and aluminium maker Sterlite Industries Ltd, consumer electronics maker BPL Ltd and joint bids by two fertiliser cooperatives Iffco and Kribhco.

India's decade-old privatisation programme picked up momentum in 2002 with the sale of government stakes in a telecom company and an oil retailing firm.

On Thursday, the government handed over a majority stake in the country's largest carmaker, Maruti Udyog Ltd, to joint venture partner Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp.

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