The divestment of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd may be delayed by at least three years because of "existing hurdles", prime minister's economic advisory council committee member and BJP national executive member Jagdish Shetigar said on Thursday.

"The divestment process is likely to get delayed due to the Lok Sabha elections next year and lack of appropriate communication with the public," Shetigar told reporters in Mumbai.

It may be recalled that the Supreme Court had directed the Union government to take parliamentary approval for the divestment of HPCL and BPCL.

There was also apprehension among the NDA leaders over the divestment process as the next Lok Sabha elections were approaching near, he added.

He said the delay in divestment would also hamper the government scheme for social upheaval as it was decided to spend one-third of the proceeds from divestment for the social sector.

He said there was apprehension that the divestment of public sector units could pose problems at times of crisis and added that the government can nationalise them whenever needed, as was done with the banks.

In the case of the petroleum companies being divested, he said the government always kept a reserve of petroleum products of 40 days in advance.

Apart from it, the government has identified four strategic places for storage of the oil in the country in times of an emergency, the economic expert added.