A crucial meeting of an inter-ministerial panel that was scheduled for Tuesday on disinvestment of government’s 10.82 per cent stake in steel major SAIL has been deferred for tomorrow amid political developments.
The meeting of Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Disinvestment, headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, has been postponed for tomorrow as some ministers, who are part of the EGoM, were not available, sources said.
They added that the government also wanted to gauge the market sentiments on RBI’s decision to cut the repo rate by 25 basis point to 7.50 per cent before finalising the floor price of SAIL’s issue, which is slated to hit on March 21.
SAIL scrip touched a year-low at Rs 64.60 on the BSE during the day and finally settled at Rs 65.25, down 3.55 per cent.
At the current market price, a 10.82 per cent stake sale would fetch government around Rs 2,500 crore.
Earlier in the day, UPA’s key ally DMK announced withdrawal of its support from the government.
SAIL comes under the administrative control of Steel Ministry headed by Beni Prasad Verma, who is also one of the members of the EGoM. Verma has been ticked off by Congress after his comments against Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav created a controversy.
He had not attended the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) meeting this morning though he attended the cabinet meeting in the evening.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had in July last year approved 10.82 per cent disinvestment in SAIL out of government’s 85.82 per cent stake, through the Offer of Sale (OFS) route.
However, it could not be taken forward amidst the subdued market conditions. The government has kept the issue on hold anticipating buoyancy in the market to return.
SAIL shares have not been part of the market rally during 2012. The stock which touched a high of Rs 115.90 on February 17, 2012, has been losing ground ever since talks of disinvestment.
The government is banking on stake sale of SAIL to meet the disinvestment target of Rs 24,000 crore in the current fiscal. So far it has raised over Rs 22,300 crore through PSU stake sales.