Govt considering all options to divest its stake in Pawan Hans: Sources

The government is considering all options with respect to the divestment of Pawan Hans, sources privy to the development told CNBC-TV18.

Sources say that Minister for Civil Aviation Gajapathi Raju, MoS Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha and DIPAM officials met today to discuss the divestment process of helicopter service company Pawan Hans.

The government will submit its divestment process plan to an evaluation panel and will give details on expression of interest (EOI) to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) in a week's time.

The government has 51 percent stake in the company while the rest 49 percent is held by ONGC.

Sources further say that ONGC is keen on holding on to its stake in the company, CNBC-TV18 reported.

This falls is in line with the government's divestment drive and comes after the announcement of the Bharat-22 ETF, which was made to speed up the capital raising process.

In the Union Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the government plans to raise Rs 72,500 crore in 2017-18 by divesting stakes in public sector firms. Out of the annual target, the government plans to raise Rs 46,500 crore via minority stake sale, Rs 15,000 crore through strategic stake sale and Rs 11,000 crore from the listing of various insurance companies.

Earlier, in a press conference, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that for FY18, the Centre has been able to achieve Rs 9,300 crore by divesting in various companies till date.

For FY17, the government had revised the divestment target to Rs 45,500 crore and had over-achieved it by raising a total of Rs 46,247 crore.