Govt mulling selling residual stake in cos

The move is aimed at meeting the Rs 30,000-crore disinvestment target for the current fiscal, though a final call will be taken by the Cabinet, official sources said.

They added that the Mines Ministry, which had moved a note last month for sale of remaining government stakes (residual stake) in the Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) and Bharat Aluminium Company (Balco), has suggested two-three options for conducting a proper valuation of the two erstwhile PSUs.

After receiving comments from the Finance Ministry, the Mines Ministry may take the proposal to the Cabinet for its consideration, they further said.

At present, the government holds 29.5 per cent stake in HZL and 49 per cent stake in Balco.

In January, Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Resources had offered Rs 17,275 crore for government's remaining stakes in HZL and Balco. This amounts to over 57 per cent of disinvestment target of Rs 30,000 crore.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram had said last week that selling residual stakes in the two erstwhile PSUs are one of the options before the government and will be used only when existing options -- divesting equity in public sectors firms -- are exhausted.

"Apart from the seven-eight companies we have lined up, there is also residual stake in couple of companies, which were strategically sold earlier, actually privatised.

Government is no longer the majority owner. So, that's there... but we

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