Budget 2018: Disinvestment dept asked to bring Rs 1 trillion before March

The disinvestment department has been told to bring a sum of Rs 1 trillion to the Budget 2018 table for FY18. Fresh from the success of crossing the annual disinvestment target for the first time, the finance ministry feels the department should be able to reach the sum by March 2018. “We have been told to make use of the buoyant market conditions to reach the magic figure,” a source in the know of the developments told Business Standard.

Over the weekend, state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has bought out the entire 51 per cent government stake in downstream Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd for Rs 369.15 billion. With this sale, the total earnings from disinvestment in the financial year FY18 will reach Rs 912.53 billion. The Budget estimate for sell-off for the year had stood at Rs 750 billion, which the department under disinvestment secretary Neeraj Kumar Gupta has handsomely exceeded.
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