To achieve disinvestment target of R55,814 crore, the finance ministry is planning to bunch together the big ticket market offers of blue-chip companies such as Coal India and Indian Oil Corporation. Most of these offers could hit the market in the first half of the current fiscal year.

The move, the ministry feels, would remove the last minute rush of such offers at the end of the year that often results in government shares being offered at a discount. The disinvestment department is also working on proposals to meet the minimum public listing norms issued by Sebi.

The government could raise only R23,920 crore against Budget target of R30,000 crore in 2012-13 as the disinvestment programme kickstarted only in November.

Sources said the new exercise could see a dilution of 10% stake in CIL through the offer-for-sale (OFS) route in the first quarter period itself. This may, however, be done in tranches due to large size of the offer.

The budgeted disinvestment target of R55,814 crore for 2013-14 includes R40,000 crore through stake sale in state-owned companies and R14,000 crore is estimated from the sale of residual stake in companies held through SUUTI and government stake in Hindustan Zinc and Balco.

Keeping in mind the problems faced in the previous year, the finance ministry is working on multiple options to meet the disinvestment target. The line up for stake sale in 2013-14 includes 10% stake sale in Engineers India, 10% stake sale in MMTC and 10% stake sale in IOC.

The department of disinvestment is also working on proposals for stake sale in RINL, BHEL, Neyveli Lignite, National Fertilizers, IRCON and RITES in the current fiscal.

Faced with many hiccups and poor market appetite, the government could sell only 5.82% stake in SAIL against the Cabinet proposal of 10.82%. Similar is the case with Nalco and Hindustan Copper, where the actual stake sale was lower than the Cabinet approved proposal.

With the deadline of minimum public float requirement for state-owned companies fixed at August 31, 2013, the department has prepared a list of companies which are required to fulfill the criteria of 10% mandatory public float.