There seems to be a sudden rush to meet the government’s ambitious disinvestment target for the current financial year. On Tuesday, the government indicated that it is likely to launch an additional offering of CPSE-Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) on March 19 to raise at least Rs 3,500 crore. The ETF sale through follow-on fund offer (FFO) will come with the option of retaining up to Rs5,000 crore through greenshoe option.
“The additional offering of ETF would be on March 19. The base issue size has been fixed at Rs 3,500 crore, with an option to retain additional subscription,” the officials said. During the last offering in November, the government mopped up Rs 17,000 crore, the biggest disinvestment transaction through ETF. As on February 28, the government has realised Rs 56,473.32 crore and the proceeds from the ETF sale will help the government inch closer towards meeting the Rs 80,000 crore disinvestment target.
The ETF comprises shares of 11 state-owned companies, including Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Coal India, Indian Oil Company, Oil India, Power Finance Corporation, Rural Electrification Corporation and Bharat Electronics. NTPC, SJVN, NLC and NBCC are the new entrants.