A ministerial panel will meet tomorrow to decide on the roadmap for auction of 5 per cent government stake in oil major ONGC that will help raise about Rs 12,000 crore.

The Empowered Group of Ministers (EoM) on ONGC disinvestment is scheduled to meet on Monday to decide on the timeline and pricing issues, an official said.

The panel, headed by the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, is expected to decide on the base or reserve price for the auction of Government stake in ONGC.

A 5 per cent share sale in ONGC is likely to fetch the central exchequer around Rs 12,000 crore. Shares of ONGC were last trading at Rs 284.25 on the BSE.

Earlier this month, the EGoM had decided to auction the Government stake in ONGC.

The ONGC stake sale would help the Government move towards its ambitious target of Rs 40,000 crore disinvestment for the fiscal ending March 31.

Till date it has raised only Rs 1,145-crore from PFC disinvestment. Besides, state-owned NBCC too has filed draft papers with SEBI for an initial public offer which could bring around Rs 250 crore.

Recently, market regulator SEBI allowed promoters to sell up to 10 per cent stake using the auction window of stock exchanges.

The Disinvestment Secretary, Mr Mohammad Haleem Khan, had said that for all those companies in which CCEA has already cleared disinvestment through FPO mode, there is no necessity for fresh approvals for stake sale through auction mode.

The Government, whose finances are under pressure, is looking at various options to meet its disinvestment target which has been hit due to adverse market situation.

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