Confident of meeting FY13 disinvestment target: Secy

Although it has not been able to sell stake in any PSU so far this fiscal, the government will be able to meet the Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion) disinvestment target set for 2012-13, an official said on Thursday.

"...by the end of this fiscal we should get out Rs 30,000 crore, that we are confident of...work has started (towards disinvestment) and issues (of PSUs) will begun to come in a while," Department of Economic Affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram told reporters at the World Economic Forum on India.

The statement comes a day after the government deferred 12.5 per cent stake sale in Nalco, saying that the company's second quarter financial performance was not reflective of the true financial position of the aluminium major.

Nalco would have been the first PSU to hit the capital markets in the current fiscal after government postponed the public issue of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL)

as the Steel Ministry felt that the issue price suggested by merchant bankers was less than the book value.

Mayaram said several steps are required before stake sale and the government was doing the job.

"One company may go (for public issue) in January, the other may go in December, that is another (matter), but disinvestment will happen this fiscal," he added.

The government aims to raise Rs 30,000 crore by way of disinvestment in state-run companies, including, Oil India, MMTC, Hindustan Copper, SAIL and NMDC.

On Wednesday, the finance ministry said it is planning stake sale of three PSUs - Hindustan Copper, NMDC and Oil India - by end December which is likely to fetch Rs 12,000 crore (Rs 120 billion) to the exchequer.