The last edition of Street Food had a passing remark on Indian Oil shares hitting a high of Rs 400 each before cooling significantly.
This was despite an upward movement in the broader market represented by the BSE Sensex.
Curious, I checked if this was the case with other public sector stocks, especially those of disinvestment candidates. The results were myth-busting. For a government that brands itself a 'doer' and 'execution-minded', the results were anything but flattering.
On September 10 this year, the Cabinet had cleared five per cent stake sale in ONGC, 10 per cent in Coal India and 11.36 per cent in NHPC. The deals were to be carried out through the offer for sale (OFS) route. "At current market valuations, this will raise Rs 19,000 crore (ONGC), Rs 23,600 crore (Coal India) and Rs 2,817 crore (NHPC), amounting to a total of about Rs 45,417 crore," moneycontrol.com had reported at 8.39 pm that day.
Two and a half months later, not a single paisa has been raised. But what has happened to the stocks? All the three have taken a dive, that too, at a time when the Sensex has been hitting new highs every day. On the day of the Cabinet clearance, ONGC had fallen from the Rs 455 levels days earlier to Rs 445.3. Today, it is trading 15 per cent lower at Rs 381.8.
Similarly, Coal India, which closed at Rs 373.85 on September 10, is now down about seven per cent at Rs 346 levels. NHPC has lost about 10 per cent - from Rs 22.5 to Rs 20.5.
What is the net impact of this slide on state finances? ONGC's five per cent stake sale will fetch Rs 16,334 crore instead of Rs 19,070 crore; Coal India's sale will raise Rs 21,890 crore instead of Rs 23,612 crore and the NHPC disinvestment will fetch Rs 2,550 crore instead of Rs 2,830 crore.
src:sify.com