No idea of any govt's divestment plans: CIL's NC Jha

The government has been drawing up a new strategy to meet its divestment targets for the fiscal year.

A divestment white-paper first reported by CNBC-TV18, suggests the government is looking at various options including buybacks and cross purchase of shares by public sector undertakings (PSUs), but it seems the PSU majors are in dark about the buyback plan. Coal India's (CIL) chairman NC Jha stated, "There is no official information from the government and hence this is all news to us,"
CIL indicated the available cash in addition to what it prefers to preserve for their developmental activities.
He further mentioned that this money belongs to the shareholders and the interest from it goes into the profit and loss account. The money has to be either invested in the form of equipments or invested in banks.
Currently, all CIL's money is with the banks for which it get an interest that goes into its annual income. "At least this much should be available to CIL because it is shareholders money in which the government has 90% stakeholders," he added. Also watch the accompanying video...