Even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is advocating presence of more public sector companies on the bourses, the coal ministry has ruled out the initial public offer (IPO) of Coal India Limited in the near future.
?Under the present circumstances, there is no question of CIL being listed in near future,? coal secretary HC Gupta told FE.
The Planning Commission is, however, is in favour of the proposed listing of CIL, to enable the PSU raise additional resources to fund its ongoing expansion plans.
CIL chairman and managing director PS Bhattacharya too had spoken in favour of the IPO. ?Every company wants to have good market capitalisation. We have a very credible record over the years and we have been a profitable company as well. Thus, there is no reason we should not list our company on the bourses,? Bhattacharya had said.
He, however, had declined to give any time frame for the listing.
Earlier, CIL couldn?t be listed as it didn?t have enough independent directors on the board which is essential to launch an IPO. To get rid of this problem, the coal ministry has already approved the appointment of 40 independent directors and seven of its subsidiaries.
The ministry is still awaiting a final recommendation by a high-level committee, set up to chalk out a road map for the coal sector headed by TL Shankar. But this may be one of the possible reasons which is stopping the ministry from giving a green signal to the CIL IPO, as T L Shankar committee is likely to submit its report shortly.