One of the better-known economic legacies of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was his push for privatization of the central public sector enterprises (CPSE).

On Tuesday, the government launched the FFO of Bharat-22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), comprising shares of 22 companies. The issue received subscriptions from investors such as mutual funds houses, foreign portfolio investors (FPI), insurance and retirement funds.

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company is managing the launch of Bharat 22 ETF which is being offered at 2.5% discount to all the investor categories.

India is yet to see a major privatization drive, at least in the last ten years! Currently Central Public Sector Enterprises.

Around 15.41 crore shares of the ETF changed hands on the NSE with the fund clocking trade worth Rs 57,393 lakh till 10: 24 am. On the BSE, the open-ended exchange traded fund got listed at 36.30 per unit, a 0.91 per cent premium over its issue price of Rs 35.97 per unit.

The fund was launched for anchor investors on November 14, and the portion reserved for them was subscribed six times amounting to Rs 12,000 crore.

The 8,000 crore Bharat22 Electronic Traded Fund was subscribed four times, seeing bids of nearly Rs32,000 crore coming in, with foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bidding forone-third of the money.

The ETF saw bids of nearly Rs 32,000 crore coming in, with FIIs bidding for one-third of the money.

The nation's largest energy driller ONGC hopes to complete the acquisition of the state-run oil marketer Hindustan Petroleum Corporation by March, chairman and managing director Shashi Shanker said.

Selling 60 per cent stake in 11 oil and gas fields of state-run ONGC has some strong positives - it will bring in private investment and global majors to buy into India's energy story.

It's not just Air India where the government is looking to sell its stake. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday launched 'Bharat 22' Exchange Traded Fund to divest government assets in 22 state-run and private firms.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp will buy government's 51.11 per cent stake in HPCL but will not have to make an open offer as the government's holding is being transferred to another state-run firm and the ownership isn't changing.

The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), ministry of finance, has moved the proposal for consideration of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), said the source who could not be named because the information is not public.

Russia is looking at selling 19.5 per cent of state oil champion Rosneft OJSC, preferably to India and China. \"Our companies are looking into the offer. They are mulling if they can take some of that equity. They are looking into it,\" Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.

BPCL and Oman Oil Company could make a public share offer next year if a deal is not sealed.

With volatile market conditions, the government has so far this fiscal been able to divest 5 per cent stake each in REC and PFC.

Finance Ministry has moved a Cabinet note for inter-ministerial consultations for selling 2.16 crore shares in BPCL through a public offer, official sources said.

The public sector oil companies are ready with a $6-billion war chest to develop a gigantic gas field off the Mozambique coast and converting the fuel into liquefied natural gas.

The subsidy payment was in form of discount on crude oil it sold to refiners and its net realisation after the payout was $35.57 per barrel.

The Finance Ministry agreed to provide only Rs 5,085 crore in cash subsidy out of the Rs 15,981 crore of revenue losses incurred by fuel retailers.