The government's divestment target included Rs 46,500 crore from minority stake sales, Rs 15,000 crore from strategic divestments and Rs 11,000 crore from the listing of PSU insurance companies. Finance minister Arun Jaitley will unveil the government's divestment target for 2018-19 in the budget scheduled for February 1. The government may adopt different methods to meet its stake sale target, including initial public offerings, exchange-traded funds, buybacks, offers for sale and acquisition of government stake by other state-owned firms. While the strategic sale of Air India is expected to be completed next fiscal, Niti Aayog has recommended strategic sale in over 40 public sector units and the closure of 26 sick units. The department of investment and public asset management has created a pipeline for potential stake sales through various methods.

Source: The Telegraph January 28, 2018 20:03 UTC