LIC is the biggest bidder in Coal India divestment
The Government of India has set a record for highest-ever divestment proceeds in a year, with the sale of its share in Coal India Limited (CIL). According to a government release on Friday, an amount of Rs 22557.63 crore was realised through the CIL disinvestment process. This is the largest ever disinvestment among Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) which involved disinvestment of 5% of the paid-up equity of Government of India. By selling its 10% share in Coal India, the government set a highest disinvestment collection record in the year, which was Rs 23,956 crore in 2012-13. The total offer of 63.16 crore shares made by the government remained oversubscribed with the investors bidding for 67.52 crore shares, across all categories. Among the foreign and local investors who made their bid for the sale, the state-run Life Insurance Corporation stood as a biggest bidder by investing up to Rs 10000 crore. The sources feel that this sale has boosted investors’ confidence in India. According to the reports, the Disinvestment Secretary Aradhana Johri was quoted to have said that the process ended up successfully with an active participation from the participants. Until now, the government has raised $300 million under disinvestment procedure, but latest sale that raised about $3.6 billion, has taken the government closer towards the distant target of $10 billion. The sources also say that the bigger response for the Coal India share sale is expected to boost the Government of India to offload the shares in the other areas like Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Power Finance Corporation. Coal India is the largest coal miner in the world and is the biggest supplier of coal domestically, which feeds India’s power stations.
This article was published on January 31, 2015.
to success.