Finance Minister Arun Jaitely has held a high level meeting on disinvestment, banking and revenue with the concerned secretaries, taking stick of developments in each of these sectors.
And on disinvestment, the news doesn't appear to be very good. The divestment secretary, Aradhana Johri, after the meeting briefed the press, but there's no clarity yet on the government’s divestment agenda, the sequencing of big issues for stake sale, and the timeline.
What has emerged however, is that both the Coal India and ONGC stake sales are on the anvil, however the government could look at the stake sale in tranches.
Also, the government is of the opinion that the stake sales will not happen at a heavy discount, of course apart from the up to 10% discount provision for the retail investor.
The government’s opinion is both the stocks are pretty "dragged down", and if at all, the stake sales must command a certain premium.
Specifically on ONGC, government officials have said investors in the roadshows have raised concerns on deep sea gas pricing and the subsidy sharing formula, particularly with crude price having fallen.
While on Coal India, questions have been raised on allocation of blocks, e-auction and the FSAs.
Significantly, there has been no discussion yet on the HZL, BALCO stake sales, which form part of the residual stake sale mop up of around Rs 15,000 crore.
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