BSE launches website dedicated to disinvestments

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today unveiled a new website that focuses on disinvestments, an issue which is back on the Government's agenda.

The website www.bsepsu.com was launched by Union minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Vilasrao Deshmukh at a function in Delhi, a BSE statement said.

PSUs are among the largest and most profitable organisations in India. Of the total of 214 Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) and their subsidiaries, only 46 are currently listed - 44 of them on the BSE.

Along with additional 26 public sector banks (PSBs) and their subsidiaries, and six other listed state-level public enterprises (SLPEs), these entities account for over 30 per cent of the total market capitalisation at BSE.

"The PSUs have the scope for even a larger role, with a large number of profitable CPSEs still unlisted. The government has already announced its intentions to keep the majority stake with itself, and not disinvest more than 49 per cent in any of the PSUs," BSE managing director and CEO Madhu Kannan said in the statement.

With strategic sales having been dropped as an option, this translates into public offerings being the chosen vehicle for the Government to disinvest stake in PSUs. This can already be seen in the forthcoming issues of NTPC, REC, NMDC and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVN), Kannan said.