The government has achieved about 78% of its FY27 budgeted target of Rs 80,000 crore for disinvestment and asset monetisation within the first five months of the financial year.The government has raised Rs 55,757 crore so far through minority stake sales in nine public sector undertakings, strategic sale of Indian Medicines Pharmaceuticals Corporation Ltd and remittances from SUUTI.In addition, Rs 6,367 crore has been raised through asset monetisation via InvITs.Taken together, capital receipts from disinvestment and asset monetisation stand at Rs 62,124 crore, or around 78% of the full-year Budget target.
LIC stake sale contributes more than half
More than half of the disinvestment proceeds came from the government’s 6.5% stake sale in Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), which fetched Rs 31,515 crore.A 2% stake sale in Coal India raised around Rs 5,542 crore, while a 6.01% stake dilution in NHPC brought in Rs 4,357 crore.Earlier this week, the government sold a 6% stake in Hindustan Copper, raising Rs 3,041 crore.Other public sector entities in which the government diluted its stake include Central Bank of India, NLC India, GIC, IRFC and Cochin Shipyard, besides Hindustan Copper.
IDBI Bank sale remains on the table
The government is also pursuing the strategic sale of IDBI Bank.After an earlier attempt to sell the bank failed this year, the government has received revised bids from Dubai-based Emirates NDB and Prem Watsa-led Fairfax Financial Holdings, according to news agency PTI.The push to raise miscellaneous capital receipts through disinvestment and asset monetisation comes amid concerns that government expenditure could exceed Budget estimates due to higher energy and fertiliser import bills.The government has set a fiscal deficit target of 4.3% of GDP for FY27.
Targets have varied over the years
The government stopped fixing separate disinvestment targets from the Revised Estimates of FY2023-24. Instead, amounts have been budgeted under Miscellaneous Capital Receipts.The amount budgeted stood at Rs 30,000 crore for RE FY2023-24, Rs 33,000 crore for RE FY2024-25, Rs 33,837 crore for RE FY2025-26, and Rs 80,000 crore for BE FY2026-27.In FY2021-22 and FY2022-23, the government raised Rs 13,534 crore and Rs 35,294 crore, respectively, against Revised Estimate targets of Rs 78,000 crore and Rs 50,000 crore.In FY2019-20 and FY2020-21, actual realisation stood at Rs 50,300 crore and Rs 32,886 crore, respectively, against Revised Estimate targets of Rs 65,000 crore and Rs 32,000 crore.
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