Govt announces disinvestment in major Public Sector undertakings
Source : FE
Jul 7, 1999, 8:30:46 AM
Privatisation of ITDC, offloading shares of MTNL GAIL,Hindusstan Zinc, Madras Fertilisers,Central Electronics Ltd., IOC, VSNL and Hindustan Latex
The state-owned enterprises in which the government would disinvest its equity in fiscal 1999-2000 were Hindustan Zinc, Madras Fertilisers, Central Electronics Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Hindustan Latex Ltd.
The government had also decided to disinvest equity in the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) up to 74 per cent.
Disinvestment of up to 19 million government held shares in MTNL would reduce the government stake in MTNL from 56 per cent to 51 per cent raising an estimated revenue of Rs 400 crore. In Hindustan Zinc, 25 per cent of government equity would be divested to bring down its stake to 51 per cent. In Madras Fertilisers, the government stake would be brought down to 26 per cent from 32.74 per cent through strategic sale.
In an another move that would double the FM network in the country, the Cabinet also approved private participation in the FM radio broadcasting services.
These channels would not be allowed to broadcast news and current affairs and would cover only areas like music, entertainment, information and education.
Though the entry would be confined to only 100 per cent Indian companies, foreign institutional investment would not be a disqualification.
The government has made it clear that there would be no privatisation of All India Radio but only allocation of additional frequencies to private operators. They would include not only private commercial broadcasters, but also non-governmental organisations (NGOs), educational institutions and community radios who would run educational and public service programmes
In a major decision aimed at revamping the telecom industry, the Cabinet allowed the existing telecom operators to shift to revenue sharing system introduced in the new telecom policy in March last.
The package deal approved by the Cabinet will be effective from August 1 and will allow all cellular, basic, paging and value added service operators to migrate to the system as a measure to provide relief to the service providers who have been hit hard by the poor demand for services. The existing licences would be extended by 10 years from the date of licence agreement. Current licences are valid for ten years, which would be 20 years after migration. |
