Amid volatility in the stock markets, the government on Friday refused to give a timeframe for the much-delayed share sale of SAIL, while expressing hope that the FPO of the Maharatna company would happen in the current fiscal.
“It has to be at the appropriate time when the stock market is in good condition. Right now, the stock market is going up and down... We still intend to go through with the (FPO) issue this financial year,” Steel Secretary Mr P K Misra told reporters here on the sidelines of a CII conference.
The FPO of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), in which the government holds a stake of a little over 85 per cent, has failed to meet deadlines repeatedly since December last year due to several reasons, like rising coking coal prices and problems with merchant bankers, besides the adverse market conditions.
Shares of the company have plunged by over 43 per cent since the beginning of this year, according to data available on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
The company’s scrips were quoting at Rs 104.50 apiece on BSE in the afternoon trade, down 3.23 per cent.
Through the share sale, the government will divest a 5 per cent stake in SAIL, while the company will issue fresh equity in the same proportion under the FPO.
The government’s disinvestment target for the previous fiscal also got hit due to the delay in SAIL’s share sale. It could only rise over Rs 22,000 crore against a target of mopping up Rs 40,000 crore through divestment in state—owned firms.