The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved selling portions of the Government’s stake in two Central Public Sector Enterprises — State Trading Corporation (STC) and India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC). These would fetch around Rs 33 crore.
The Empowered Group of Ministers on disinvestment will now decide the floor price.
According to the minimum public shareholding norms announced by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, every listed Central Government-owned company must have a minimum of 10 per cent public shareholding. The deadline is August 8. Public shareholding refers to the percentage of stake held by non-promoter entities – the general public, banks, financial institutions and mutual funds. Currently, the Government, as the promoter, owns 92.11 per cent stake in ITDC and 91.02 per cent in STC. It needs to bring down its holding up to or less than 90 per cent.
Since ITDC’s share is almost illiquid in stock exchanges, the Government expects the sale of 5 per cent stake, or 42.88 crore shares, to fetch Rs 23.58 crore. At the same time, though active on stock exchanges but because of small quantity, STC is expected to fetch only Rs 10 crore for its 1.02 per cent, or 6.13 crore shares.