Mumbai, Feb 27: The Indiangovernment aims to complete the sale of a major stake in a slew of state-runcompanies within calendar 2001, the top civil servant in the disinvestmentministry said on Tuesday.The deals included flag carrier Air-India, domestic carrier Indian Airlines,overseas telecommunications monopoly Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd, softwareservices and hardware maintenance firm CMC Ltd, Hindustan Copper Ltd,Hindustan Zinc Ltd, National Fertilisers Ltd and Indian Tourism DevelopmentCorporation.
"I see all the deals happening in this calendar year, and hope the deal forBharat Aluminium Company (Balco) will be complete by the end of thefinancial year," said Disinvestment Secretary Pradeep Baijal.
The cash-strapped government is selling part of its holdings in thesecompanies, to raise money and to improve their financial performance byallowing private investors a say in management.
Yet the entire process could be slowed, by the opposition raised to thefirst major asset sale. India's parliament is debating a move by thegovernment to sell 51 per cent of Balco, India's third-largest aluminiumproducer, to Sterlite Industries for Rs 5.51 billion ($118.1 million).
"A lot will depend on what happens to Balco," Mr Baijal said. Then as we goalong, we will write the rules." The Balco deal is widely seen as a key stepin the government's divestment exercise, as it is the first sale in a newstrategy of giving management control of a profitable state-run firm to aprivate company.
"To me the Balco deal is very important. It is a big deal, and we have donea lot of due diligence on it, " Mr Baijal said.
Yet even as the government was battling to win public support for the Balcosale, the privatisation process was dealt another blow by the poor responseto the government's offer of 40 per cent in Air-India and 26 per cent inIndian Airlines, a primarily domestic air carrier.
(Reuters)
Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
