The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) may consider offloading part of the Government’s stake in NTPC.
A senior Government official told Business Line, “The CCEA is likely to consider offloading 9.5 per cent of Government’s equity in NTPC in its meeting on Thursday.” At present, Government owns 84.5 per cent in this PSU. NTPC is one of the five ‘maharatna’ category PSUs. It is estimated that the Government may get Rs 13,000 crore from the sell-off in NTPC.
Earlier, in February, 2010, the Government divested 5 per cent of its stake in this power major to get Rs 8,480 crore. But it got poor response. Although, the issue was subscribed a little over 100 per cent, the retail portion of the issue got a paltry 0.14 times subscription. Even employees were not very much enthused by the issue, as their portion was just 0.43 times subscribed.
The current market price of NTPC is less than issue price of the 2010 offer. According to information available on the Web site of the Department of Disinvestment, the institutional investors were allotted share at the rate of Rs 202 a share, high net worth individuals along with retail investors at Rs 201, and employees were allotted at the rate of Rs 191/ share. On Wednesday, NTPC’s share closed at Rs 162 on the BSE.
Shishir.Sinha@thehindu.co.in