With good investor response to the current CPSE-Exchange Traded Fund, the Centre is expected to reach its revised disinvestment target of Rs 16,000 crore for the current fiscal after the new fund offer closes on Friday.

The Government had originally planned to raise Rs 30,000 crore through disinvestments during the fiscal, but after some of the disinvestment plans did not take off, it pruned the target to Rs 16,000 crore.

The Government is currently raising Rs 3,000 crore through the CPSE-Exchange Traded Fund, which opened for anchor investors on March 18 and non-anchor investors yesterday.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management India, which is managing the issue, said it had received bids for about Rs 1,800 crore, including Rs 800 crore from anchor investors on the first day. It is confident of raising the targeted amount by the time the issue closes on Friday.

The ETF, which will get listed on the exchanges on April 11 and can be traded like any stock, consists of a basket of 10 blue-chip public sector enterprises, including ONGC, Coal India Ltd, Oil India Ltd, IOCL, Power Finance Corporation and Container Corporation of India.

Sangita Choure, Joint Secretary, Department of Disinvestment, said this is the first time we are tapping the ETF route for disinvestment. “We had two follow-on public offers, one buy-back offer (NHPC) and six offers for sale as part of our disinvestment programme,” she told media persons here today.

She admitted that offers-for-sale was a much easier route for disinvestment.