Government eyes Rs 3,500 crore through CPSE-ETF additional sale

The government is likely to launch an additional offering of CPSE-Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) on March 19 to raise at least Rs 3,500 crore, officials said Tuesday. The ETF sale through follow-on fund offer (FFO) will come with the option of retaining up to Rs 5,000 crore through greenshoe option, they said. "The additional offering of ETF would be on March 19. The base issue size has been fixed at Rs 3,500 crore, with an option to retain additional subscription," the officials said.

During the last offering in November, the government mopped up Rs 17,000 crore, the biggest disinvestment transaction through ETF. The proceeds from the ETF sale will help the government move towards meeting the Rs 80,000 crore disinvestment target set for the current fiscal.

As on February 28, the government has realised Rs 56,473.32 crore as disinvestment proceeds against the target of Rs 80,000 crore during the current financial year (2018-19). The CPSE (central public sector enterprises) ETF comprises shares of the 11 state-owned companies, including Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Coal India, Indian Oil Company, Oil India, Power Finance Corporation, Rural Electrification Corporation and Bharat Electronics. NTPC, SJVN, NLC and NBCC are the new entrants in the ETF basket.

CPSE ETF was set up in 2014 and the government has so far sold the stake in 10 companies in the basket in four tranches, raising Rs 28,500 crore. NTPC carries the highest weight in the index at 19.59 per cent, followed by Coal India at 19.17 per cent, Indian Oil Corp at 18.98 per cent, and ONGC at 18.92 per cent.

(With inputs from agencies.)