Finance Ministry on Monday announced the completion of the hiving off of Numaligarh Refinery Limited from Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) ahead of the sale of BPCL.

The Ministry also said that the strategic sale process of another Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE), Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) has moved into next stage. Strategic sale means offloading all or maximum shares of Government with management control to a private party or even to another CPSE.

In a tweet, Tuhin Kant Pandey, Secretary of Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPM) said: “Privatisation process of BPCL moves ahead with BPCL Board deciding to exit from NRL at a consideration of ₹9,875.96 crore for its 61.65 per cent stake with transfer of control. OIL, EIL and Government of Assam will be picking up the stake.”

Disinvestment next

According to Preliminary Information Memoradum put out by DIPAM, BPCL is the second largest oil marketing company in India with a market share of 21 per cent in the financial year 2018-19 and has third largest refining capacity. The government intends to sell its entire stake of 52.98 per cent, or over 114.91 crore shares in BPCL. It, however, will not include BPCL’s 61.65 per cent stake in Numaligarh Refinery Ltd.

The government has received three Expression of Interests (EoIs) including one from Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta and one each from two international funds. Now, EoIs would be used for pre-qualifying the interested parties in accordance with eligibility criteria and disqualification conditions. Those qualify, would be allowed to participate in Stage-II, where Request for Proposal and financial bids will be submitted.

SCI

In another tweet DIPAM Secretary said that multiple Expressions of Interest (EoI) have been received for privatisation of Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) Limited. “The transaction will now move to the second stage,” he said. Monday was last date for or filing EoI. However, the names of those who submitted EOIs was not disclosed.

Government intends disinvesting its entire shareholding of 63.75 per cent, along with the transfer of management control. SCI is the only Indian shipping company operating break-bulk services, international container services, liquid/dry bulk services, offshore services and passenger services.

A Central public sector enterprise (CPSE) under the administrative control of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, it is the largest Indian shipping company in terms of capacity with a varied fleet profile, according to the document.

Also, it manages a large number of vessels on behalf of various government departments and organisations. SCI was incorporated by the amalgamation of Eastern Shipping Corporation and Western Shipping Corporation as India’s first public sector company in shipping on October 2, 1961.

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