India may settle for only 58% of its initial divestment target

NMDC’s Nargarnar Steel Plant privatisation hit a roadblock after the Home Minister’s statement that ownership of the Chattisgarh-based plant will not go into private hands.

In the case of IDBI Bank, RBI’s fit & proper clean chit is awaited on the expressions of interest which came in early 2023. Tuhin Kanta Pandey, the secretary of DIPAM, had also expressed doubts about the completion of the government's disinvestment in IDBI Bank before the end of the current financial year.

Slow movement on BEML (formerly Bharat Earth Movers Limited) and Shipping Corp of India Ltd (SCI) privatisations, too, has made the government’s FY24 divestment target unachievable, with no clear timelines for the transactions. For almost 18 months, the Centre has been tied down on the BEML and SCI demerger-related process of separating the non-core entities and getting them listed after securing clear land titles from a number of state governments.  

Just at current valuations, the government’s 30.8% stake sale in IDBI Bank would have fetched the government almost ₹22,000 crore. While offloading 26% in BEML would have yielded less than ₹3,500 crore. SCI privatisation would have fetched slightly over ₹4,000 crore at the current market capitalisation.

All three key privatisations put together yield less than ₹30,000 crore in divestment receipts at current market value in a single year, probably driving home the challenge of steep disinvestment targets set by North Block.