Comments
As the Corona Virus epidemic force a three-week countrywide lockdown disrupting travel, the Central government has resorted to “virtual signing” to conclude strategic sales in Kamarajar Port Ltd, THDC India Ltd and North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO). The Centre will receive Rs 13,500 crore from the three deals.
On Wednesday, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), signed a share purchase agreement to sell the Central government’s 67 per cent stake in Kamarajar Port Ltd to Chennai Port Trust for Rs2,383 crore, at least two officials briefed on the development said.
BusinessLine first reported the deal on March 21.
DIPAM also concluded the deal to sell the Centre’s 75 per cent stake in THDC India and 100 per cent stake in NEEPCO to NTPC Ltd for more than Rs 11,000 crore, the officials said.
“In the case of Kamarajar Port-Chennai Port Trust deal, the SPA was signed through a scanned copy exchange and the money will be paid on-line by Chennai Port Trust into the government account by Friday noon,” one of the officials said.
The board of Kamarajar Port Ltd will hold a meeting to approve the online transfer of shares to Chennai Port Trust, he stated.
The acquisition will make Kamarajar Port Ltd, India’s only major port that is run as a company among the dozen owned by the Centre, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Chennai Port, which is run as a trust, a governance model the government will soon replace by converting the 11 port trusts into port authorities through an act of Parliament.
A similar process was followed for concluding the strategic sale of government equity in THDC India and NEEPCO to NTPC, the official said.
THDC is a 75:25 joint venture between the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government. The entire equity of North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd (NEEPCO) is held by the Central government.
An official announcement on the deals is expected on friday.
The three deals will take the government’s receipts through stake sales in state-owned firms in FY20 close to Rs50,000 crore.
Till March 12, the government said it has realised Rs35,537.32 crore through share sales in PSUs.
The 2019 Union Budget had set a target of Rs1,05,000 crore through stake sale in PSUs in FY20, which was scaled down to Rs 65,000 crore in the revised estimates. Ends/
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.