NEW DELHI: Govt will reassess interest from bidders in a clutch of public sector companies that were to be privatised, including
Shipping Corporation
and
BEML
, but
Concor
and BPCL are no longer on the table for now, a top official said on Friday.
Tuhin Kanta Pandey, secretary in the department of investment and public asset management (Dipam), also said data room access would be given to IDBI Bank bidders after RBI sent its “fit and proper” assessment, as reported first by TOI last week, and govt hopes to complete the sale by the year-end.
“We will undertake a review of all the transactions, which are pending, whether bidder interest will continue,” Pandey told TOI in an interview, adding that entities such as HLL and NMDC Steel are also in the list.
Transactions, such as Shipping Corporation and BEML, have been in the pipeline for almost four years and their fate is uncertain.
Concor and BPCL sale had been put off due to opposition from railways and petroleum ministries.
“I won’t really conjecture at this stage. Our effort will be to see that they are successfully done. The plan has not been shelved,” the secretary said.
He said transactions, which are in an advanced stage and had moved ahead with bidders and due diligence underway, would be taken up. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had told TOI in an interview that govt will honour the plans that have been approved.
Pandey is confident about the IDBI Bank transaction, which has been pending for a significant period, going through probably in the current year. “We will make substantial progress. We hope that financial bids would be available. It is in a fairly advanced stage. Early next month, we can start virtual data room access,” said Pandey.
Govt has also moved away from fixing any target for raising revenues from privatisation and steered clear of mentioning disinvestment or privatisation in the Budget documents.
