Govt to divest 5 per cent stake in SAIL on December 5

The government will sell a 5 per cent stake in state-owned Steel Authority of India (SAIL) on Friday, kicking off an ambitious disinvestment program that is crucial for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to help trim the budget deficit.

The stake sale, which is worth US $286 million at the scrip's closing level on Wednesday, would mark the first stake sale under the new government, which won a landslide election in May largely on a promise of economic growth.

The government, which has an 80 per cent stake in SAIL, plans to sell up to 206.5 million shares through an auction on the domestic stock exchanges, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

The government, which has targeted to raise about US $9.5 billion through its disinvestment in public sector companies by March, is counting on a 5 per cent stake sale in Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and a 10 per cent stake sale in Coal India (CIL) for the bulk of the proceeds.

(Reuters)