Stake sale in Nalco under active consideration: Govt

New Delhi: The government on Tuesday said disinvestment of 10% shareholding in Nalco is under “active consideration”. “The disinvestment of 10% Government of India shareholding in Nalco is under active consideration of the government,” minister of state for finance S S Palanimanickam said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

He added that the draft proposal in this regard has been sent to various ministries, including the ministry of mines, and replies are awaited. Next fiscal, the government is looking to mop up Rs 30,000 crore from stake sale in public sector units, even as it missed the 2011-12 disinvestment target of Rs 40,000 crore by a wide margin. The government could manage to raise only Rs 14,000 crore in the current fiscal through stake sale in CPSE.

Replying to a query on how the government plans to utilise the proceeds from the stake sale, Palanimanickam said that the money is channelised into the National Investment Fund (NIF) for investment in social sector projects as well as helping PSUs fund their expansion plans and get a level- playing field with its private sector peers.

“The fund is used for investment in social-sector projects and capital investment in selected profitable/ revivable public sector enterprises in order to enlarge their capital base to finance expansion/diversification,” he said. The government had in 2006 decided to sell 10% shares in profit-making firm Nalco.