In the current fiscal, to meet the Rs 1.2 lakh core CPSE disinvestment target the government shall focus on strategic stake sales, said DIPAM Secretary, Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Friday. For the strategic sale of national carrier Air India and for oil major BPCL, bids have already been invited by the government however due to the prevailing COVID-19 situations, the deadlines for the bids have been extended.
The deadline has been extended until July 31st for the government selling 52.98 percent stake, of BPCL, which was initially May 2nd and later extended till June 13th. And the deadline for bid submission will be August 31st for 100 percent stake sale in Air India, as the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the economic activities globally. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management ( DIPAM) emphasis on the strategic disinvestment and has minority stake sales of CPSEs on its table, said Mr.Pandey speaking at a webinar on Bharat Bond ETF.
Inspite of the disruptions caused by the pandemic Covid-19, most of the strategic transactions are moving forward and going on. Extensions have been given in terms of Eol ( Expression of Interest) and the pandemic creating disturbances but the government has cleared that we are very much on the track of aggressively following strategic disinvestment. So much focus on that.
“For sure, there will be buybacks, offer for sales, etc but it will all be more concentrated on strategic disinvestment “, added Pandey. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the government has been holding up the deadlines for expression of interest for strategic sales. Recently, the deadline to submit the bids for Air India was extended till August 31st by the government. The deadline for submitting an expression of interest (EOI) was also extended till July 31st, by the government.
The DIPAM secretary injected from answering the question of whether the government was considering altering its disinvestment target for the fiscal year 2021, had known the current market conditions. Pandey avoided sharing any update on the IPO process of the insurance major LIC. DIPAM added, if there happen to be any further changes in important dates, it will be communicated to the interested bidders on a later date. The COVID-19 pandemic and following lockdowns have disturbed the economic activities globally. The aviation industry has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, with most airlines canceling flights and announcing salary cuts for employees
