Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have disbanded the empowered groups of ministers (EGoM) set up by the UPA government, but a panel with similar powers, led by finance minister Arun Jaitley, will soon be formed for matters relating to disinvestment.

Apart from Jaitley, the panel will comprise transport minister Nitin Gadkari and the minister dealing with the central public sector enterprise (CPSE) concerned in each case. For example, if ONGC’s stake sale is being considered, then the MoS (independent charge) for petroleum and natural gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, will be on the panel.

Government sources told FE that the functions of the new panel and the procedure by which disinvestment proposals will be taken up by it will be similar to that of EGoMs under UPA rule.

?Once we approach the cabinet regarding stake sale of any CPSE, the cabinet will delegate the task to this panel. The panel will finalise the price, date and size of the stake to be sold. The company in question will then notify the exchange and the stake sale will proceed,? a senior finance ministry official said.

The first meeting of the panel is likely to take place in September, and it may be for either SAIL or Coal India, the official added.

The FY15 Budget targets R43,425 crore from stake sale in 11 CPSEs, including Coal India, ONGC, SAIL, Concor, PFC and REC, among others. The two biggest disinvestments, Coal India (10% stake-sale for about R23,700 crore) and ONGC (5% for about R17,550 crore) are expected to garner more than R41,000 crore in total. As reported by FE earlier, the disinvestment department’s internal estimates suggest the CPSE stake-sale target could be exceeded by R13,000-15,000 crore given the market conditions.

The disinvestment road map includes three initial public offerings of namely, Hindustan Aeronautics, Rashtri-ya Ispat Nigam and THDC. Combined, the three market debuts can garner about R6,000 crore. Additionally, the Centre expects to mop up R15,000 crore from the residual stake it holds in Anil-Agarwal promoted Hindustan Zinc and Balco.

Although the finance ministry has already received cabinet approvals for HAL, RINL and SAIL, these will still go to the Jaitley-led panel as the issue of pricing is yet to be decided. Even HZL-Balco, for which cabinet approval has been given, may go to the panel after the valuers come out with their final assessment of the centre’s residual stake in the two companies.