The CCEA decision to dilute stake in NHPC, ONGC and Coal India has put to an end all debate on whether the new Government will take the risk given the weak economic sentiments it had inherited.

Disinvestment in NHPC will also help in meeting the minimum public shareholding target of 25 per cent. On June 19, SEBI said that all the PSUs, just like private companies, will have to bring minimum shareholdings to 25 per cent in three years.

However, an additional 4.65 per cent will be required to be offloaded in Coal India to make it compliant with SEBI’s norms. ONGC has begun fulfilling the norms.

In Coal India, the Government will be divesting its holding for the second time. The first round of divestment took place in October 2010, when the Government mopped up around ₹16,000 crore. At that time, retail investors got shares at ₹232.75 a piece while others paid ₹245.

On Wednesday, Coal India’s shares closed at ₹373.85, down 1.8 per cent over Tuesday’s closing price.

For ONGC, it will be eighth offloading with the last one done in March 2012.

In 2012, the OFS mode was used for first time. The disinvestment was saved by roping in LIC at the last moment.

Shares were sold at ₹303.67 a piece which fetched the Government ₹12,749.50 crore. On Wednesday, ONGC’s shares closed at ₹445.30, down 0.79 per cent over Tuesday’s closing price.

NHPC will be hitting the market for the third time, the first time being in 2009. In its IPO, each share was allocated at ₹36. However, it has disappointed investors so far and on Wednesday, share prices closed at ₹22.40, a tad lower than Tuesday’s closing price.

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