Govt mulls stake sale in aluminium giant: minister

Posted by twaluminum on July 27th, 2015

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NEW DELHI: The government is considering selling a 10-percent stake in state-run National Aluminium Co. Ltd. (Nalco) as part of its stepped-up drive to sell state assets, a minister said Monday.

Nalco, known as one of India's nine “navratna,” or public sector crown jewels, is India's third-largest aluminium maker.

India's left-of-centre government has said it aims to raise at least nine billion dollars in the year that ends by March 31, 2011 by selling stakes in coal, steel and other industrial companies in a bid to curb the fiscal deficit.

The finance ministry has asked the mines ministry “to consider the disinvestment of 10 percent equity out of the remaining 87.15 percent… held by the government of India in Nalco,” Minister for Mines B.K. Handique said in a written statement in parliament.

No decision had been taken or value placed on the possible sale, he said, but the mines ministry has previously ruled out further disinvestment in Nalco.

Nalco has rich bauxite reserves -- the raw material for aluminium -- in the eastern state of Orissa.

The Congress party-led government is also expected to sell up to an 11-percent stake in leading coal operator Coal India in an initial public offering this year, a sale that could reap the government 2.7 billion dollars.

Earlier this month, the government approved a 20-percent stake sale in state-run Steel Authority of India, the country's top domestic producer of the alloy, aiming to raise at least 3.6 billion dollars.

The government is also planning share sales in state-run firms such as utility Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam, Engineers India and Hindustan Copper this financial year.

The government aimed to raise 5.6 billion dollars from stake sales in the past financial year but fell short amid tepid investor reception to such companies as power producer NTPC.

After winning a strong re-election mandate last year, the government said it would press ahead with sales of stakes in state companies as it no longer had to depend on communist support to survive in parliament.

Finance Minister Pranob Mukherjee has promised the government will keep at least a 51 percent stake in all public sector companies.

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