Government exceeds disinvestment target in FY19

New Delhi, March 22 (IANS): Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said the government has achieved disinvestment of INR 85,000 crore in the current fiscal, which is INR 5,000 crore more than the set target for 2018-19, belying widespread expectations of a shortfall. "As against a target of INR 80,000 crore for disinvestment for the current year, the divestment receipts have touched INR 85,000 crores today (Friday)," Jaitley said in a tweet. Like other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, Jaitley too has prefixed the word "chowkidar" in his official Twitter handle. As of February 28, 2019, the government had raised only INR 56,473 crore through disinvestment, or 70 per cent of the full-year target of INR 80,000. With uncertainties over some sell-offs, achieving the target seemed difficult at the beginning of this month. The Power Finance Corporation-Rural Electrification Corporation (PFC-REC) merger deal, by which the PFC acquired the government's stake in the REC, has generated INR 14,500 crore as disinvestment proceeds for the government. The Disinvestment Department, along with the PFC-REC and the Pawan Hans Ltd (PHL), was earlier working out the premium at which the government would sell its stake. Pawan Hans Ltd (PHL) had managed to generate interest among bidders. On March 19, the fifth tranche of the Central Public Sector Enterprises Exchange Traded Fund (CPSE ETF) managed by the Reliance Mutual Fund anchor book was oversubscribed by 5.78 times against anchor base issue size of INR 1,050 crore. The fifth tranche of the CPSE ETF, which gives an opportunity to invest in 11 government "ratnas", helped the government raise INR 9,500 crore. The government has raised a total of INR 28,500 crore from the rounds through the CPSE ETF since 2014. The ETF tracks shares of 11 CPSEs -- ONGC, NTPC, Coal India, IOC, Rural Electrication Corp, Power Finance Corp, Bharat Electronics, Oil India, NBCC India, NLC India and SJVNL.