Divestment target for FY25 may be at least 20% lower than last year’s
₹51,000 crore from the sale of the government’s shares in public sector companies. It is unlikely that any new big-ticket additions will be made to the divestment list for FY25, the people mentioned above said on condition of anonymity. “For FY25, the divestment targets will likely be lower than the FY24 target as the focus will be to complete stake sale processes initiated during FY24," one of the two people cited above said.
As of 3 January, the government had raised only about ₹10,050 crore through various divestments, making it unlikely to meet the year’s target. “Since 2014, more than ₹3 trillion worth of disinvestments have been done. The low-hanging fruit has been picked, and now public sector units should be taken to the market when there’s a demand for it and there’s adequate confidence that whatever is put out for sale gets picked up," the person cited above said.
A spokesperson for the finance ministry didn’t respond to emailed queries. Eight strategic disinvestments are currently in various stages: IDBI Bank Ltd, BEML Ltd, Shipping Corp. of India Ltd, HLL Lifecare Ltd, Projects & Development India Ltd, Indian Medicines Pharmaceutical Corp.
Ltd and Ferro Scrap Nigam Ltd. The government is yet to seek expressions of interest for Container Corp. of India Ltd and has no plans to restart the disinvestment process of Bharat Petroleum Corp.
Ltd. Most of the divestments are yet to make progress, and may spill over to the next fiscal year. Other likely candidates for divestment during FY25 are Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) and some subsidiaries under AI Assets Holding Ltd.
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