Government Plans To Sell Up To 15% Stake In Ircon International

The government is planning to sell up to 15% of its stake in Ircon International Ltd. through an offer-for-sale of shares, an official said.

The government currently holds 89.18% stake in the railway engineering company.

"We are planning for Ircon offer-for-sale by December depending on market conditions. The stake on offer would be between 10% and 15%," the official said.

The railway engineering firm got listed on the bourses in 2018, and its initial public offering had garnered Rs 467 crore. Shares of Ircon International closed at Rs 77.95 apiece on the BSE on Friday.

At the current market price, the government could raise about Rs 540 crore by selling a 15% stake.

The government is looking to raise Rs 2.10 lakh crore through disinvestment in the current fiscal. This includes Rs 1.20 lakh crore from central public sector enterprise stake sales and Rs 90,000 crore from sale of government stake in financial institutions.

So far this fiscal, Rs 6,138 crore has been raised from selling minority stake in CPSEs as Covid-19 pandemic has delayed big ticket disinvestments like Bharat Petroleum Corp.

The government is also in the process of selling stake in Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp. and Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. through offer-for-sale of shares.