Govt raises Rs 16,507 crore through disinvestment in PSUs in FY24, misses target

NEW DELHI: The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) raised only Rs 16,507.29 crore through disinvestment in PSUs in FY 2023-24, which was only 32.36 percent of the target set out by the government.

The primary mode of disinvestment was Offer for Sale (OFS). The disinvestment yield for the last financial year is far lower than the number pegged by the Budget for the last fiscal — Rs 51,000 crore. In revised estimates, the government had done away with a separate head for disinvestment receipts. Under the head of capital receipts, the government estimated to garner Rs 30,000 crore, which included Rs 20,000 crore from disinvestment and Rs 10,000 crore from asset monetisation.

During FY 2023-24, the government offloaded minority stake in 10 Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) via OFS. Stake sale in Coal India Limited (CIL) yielded Rs 4,186 crore, while in NHPC and NLC India, the government earned Rs 2,488 crore and Rs 2,129 crore, respectively. The government raised Rs 858 crore though Initial Public Offering (IPO) of IREDA.

In addition, the government also sold shares in RVNL, SJVN, IRCON International, HUDCO and earned remittances from SUUTI.

The government has been missing its disinvestment target historically except for FY 2017-18 and 2018-19. DIPAM recorded its highest disinvestment yield in FY 2017-18 when it mopped up Rs 1,00,056 crore. In 2018-19, the government mopped up Rs 84,972 crore from disinvestment in PSUs, higher than the target of Rs 80,000 crore set for that year.