Government mulls 9.5% stake sale in NTPC

To achieve its disinvestment target of `30,000 crore this fiscal, the government has started the process of disinvesting 9.5 per cent stake in Maharatna PSU -  NTPC.  At present, the government holds 84.50 per cent stake in the country’s biggest power generator.

According to government sources, the Department of Disinvestment has proposed to offload about 78.33 crore shares totalling to about 9.50 per cent stake, through which the government expects to mop up nearly Rs 13,100 crore.

“The government is the owner of the company, it can decide about the stake sale, we will do as directed by the government,” a senior NTPC official told Express, requesting anonymity.

The government proposed to disinvest 9.50 per cent paid-up equity of NTPC through offer for sale (OFS) route through the stock exchanges, sources said.

NTPC went public in 2004 and the government further diluted its stake in the company through a follow on public offer.

The power generation company had reported a net profit of Rs 9,223.73 crore in the last fiscal as against `9,102.59 crore in 2010-11. It recorded a turnover of Rs 61,002.20 crore (Rs 54,704.55 crore). The market capitalisation of the company, incorporated in 1975, stood at Rs 1,34,194.93 crore at the end of March 2012.

Last week, the government had decided to sell its stake in four PSUs — Hindustan Copper, Oil India,  MMTC and Nalco – which is expected to fetch the government Rs 15,000 crore.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs cleared the proposal of 12.15 per cent stake sale of Nalco and 9.33 per cent in MMTC through OFS route, besides 10 per cent stake sale in Oil India and 9.59 per cent in Hindustan Copper.

The government has proposed to raise Rs 30 000 crore from disinvestment in the current fiscal. However  it has failed to come out with any public offering in first five months of 2012-13.

Last fiscal, the government raised Rs 14,000 crore through disinvestment against a target of Rs 40,000 crore.