Govt eyes $386 mln from stake sales in 2 firms

By Rajkumar Ray and Manoj Kumar

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India plans to raise 18.54 billion rupees ($386 million) via sale of shares in two state-owned companies in the current fiscal year, the government said on Friday.

Namo Narayan Meena, a junior finance minister, told parliament the government would sell a portion of its stake in power producer NHPC Ltd and explorer Oil India Ltd.

"The public offering of NHPC Ltd and Oil India Ltd are likely to be completed in the current financial year," he said.

On Thursday, the finance ministry said in a review of the economy India needed to raise 250 billion rupees every year from divestments and called for selling a minimum of 10 percent equity to the public in all unlisted state companies.

An updated budget for the fiscal year 2009/10 ending March scheduled on Monday is expected to announce detailed divestment plans.

Meena said a public offering of Rail India Technical and Economic Services Ltd, an engineering, consultancy and project management company, has been deferred due to change in its capital requirement.

Divestments have slowed to a trickle since 2004 after aggressive asset sales by the then Bharatiya Janata Party-led government.

The Congress party-led coalition is expected to push divestments after winning a stronger mandate in May. Its earlier five-year term was handicapped by opposition from its then left allies to economic reforms.