The government intends to invite financial bids for its entire 63.75% stake in Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) soon after the demerged entity, SCILAL, is listed, they said.
SCILAL was created by hiving off the non-core assets of SCI, which owns and operates about one-third of the country’s total cargo ship tonnage.
“Work is in full swing to complete the processes required for the listing of SCILAL soon, after which bids (for SCI) will be called,” one of the officials said.
The demerger of SCILAL was approved by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in February this year and the process was completed in March.
In 2019, the government had announced its intent to privatise SCI but the plan was delayed over issues such as the transfer of funds to the demerged entity.
Based on the current stock market price, the government would rake in over ₹2,850 crore for its 63.75% stake in SCI.
The SCI share price eased 0.6% to close at ₹96.04 on the BSE on Wednesday.
The government is now focusing on disinvestment of companies that have already been identified, including IDBI Bank, SCI, NMDC Steel, and IREDA, before adding other potential candidates to the list, officials said.
It has set a disinvestment target at ₹51,000 crore for the current fiscal year, slightly higher than the revised estimate of ₹50,000 crore but lower than the budgeted estimate of ₹65,000 crore for FY23.
