Centre receives ₹3,839 cr from Axis Bank stake sale; disinvestment kitty swells

The Central Government has garnered about ₹3,839 crore from the sale of Axis Bank Ltd shares held by a government investment vehicle, the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI), the divestment secretary informed on Wednesday.

"Government has received about ₹3,839 crore from the sale of Axis Bank shares held by SUUTI," the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey wrote on Twitter.

Last week, the government sold its entire 1.55% stake, representing 46.5 million shares, in Axis Bank held through SUUTI. 

The floor price for the sale was fixed at ₹830.63 per equity share.

Based on shareholding data available on the BSE, SUUTI held a 1.55% stake in the bank, suggesting it will completely exit this via the offer for sale.

The shareholding was transferred to the investment vehicle in 2003 when a scheme of the Unit Trust of India failed and was bailed out.

At the time, the fund held investments in over 40 firms. It has slowly been exiting these since then.

With the sale of the SUUTI stake, India has mopped up ₹28,383 crore in divestment receipts. The budget target from disinvestment in the current fiscal (Apr-March) is pegged at ₹65,000 crore.

On Wednesday, shares of Axis Bank closed at ₹854.65, down 0.44% against the previous close on BSE.