The move is in line with the posture sought by financial institutions (FIs) from the Essar group, for instance, the demand to offload Essar Steel's stake in Essar Power.

"How much unlocking is likely to yield will be for everyone to see in the course of the next two years," said Essar group director Prashant Ruia. The strategy is to unlock the hidden value in group companies and the promoter's holdings, he added.

Elaborating on this, Mr Ruia said that in the case of Essar's telecom division, where the promoter's holding is 100 per cent in Aircel Digilink - which owns premium circles like Rajasthan, Haryana and east Uttar Pradesh - the promoters' would look at diluting their holdings.

According to a leading consultancy firm, which has conducted a valuation of the refinery division of Essar Oil, the value per fully paid up share would be in the range of Rs 87 to Rs 99.

This valuation was conducted to assist Essar Oil in the proposed issue of fresh equity shares to a strategic partner. The drilling division of Essar Oil is already on the block with four players bidding for the division. This is expected to fetch over Rs 450 crore for the group.

Mr Ruia said: "The value of our holdings is rising and we can monetise a large part of it either by inviting a strategic partner, going for a public issue or an international listing."

The plan would involve either selling a part of the equity through a public issue or divesting it in favour of a strategic partner. The Essar group currently holds 100 per cent in Essar Power and Essar Telecom (except for the Delhi circle, where a part of the equity is held by Hutchison Max).

Mr Ruia said that telecom is the only business which is completely held by the promoters. He added that in the long run, the promoters will look at the option of offloading part of the stake as valuations for its circles is constantly rising. Mr Ruia, however, said that the present focus is consolidation in the three circles and reconnecting the fourth. With Hutchison as its strategic partner, Essar Telecom is planning investments in other circles including Mumbai, Gujarat and Calcutta.

Earlier, when Essar Steel was under pressure from the FIs to offload its stake in Essar Power, the company had struck a deal with Marathon at a rate of Rs 14 per share for 21.7 crore equity shares, which amounts to a total of Rs 303.8 crore. The 21.7 crore shares is equivalent to 42 per cent of Essar Power's equity capital.

The promoters of Essar group are among the few in India to have such large stakes in their companies. Mr Ruia said holding huge stakes in today's business environment made little economic sense. "We can have our controlling stakes and monetise the rest," he added.

The Ruias hold 51 per cent in Essar Shipping, 51 per cent in Essar Oil and 37 per cent in Essar Steel. The company has already demerged the port project from the shipping business. The equity investments in the port project is Rs 480 crore.

The company also has huge potential in oil and gas exploration at Rajasthan, Cachar, Cambay and Ratna and R-Seties of fields, for which Essar Oil has the exploration licenses.