Budget 2017-18: Railway companies to be listed on stock market

Government to also identify other PSUs for listing soon

While presenting the Union Budget 2017-18 in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the shares of Railway Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) like IRCTC, IRFC and IRCON will be listed in stock exchanges.

The government will encourage strengthening the CPSEs through consolidation, mergers and acquisitions and soon create an integrated public sector ‘oil major’, he added.

Stating that the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) has proved an overwhelming success in extending funds for the deprived sections, Jaitley doubled the budget target under the scheme to Rs 2.44 lakh crores.

Easing the stressed legacy accounts of banks, Jaitley earmarked Rs 10,000 crore for recapitalisation of banks during 2017-18 and assured need-based additional allocation.

Stating that the disinvestment policy announced in the last budget will continue, Jaitley further said that the government will put in place a revised mechanism and procedure to ensure time bound listing of identified CPSEs on stock exchanges. This will foster greater public accountability and unlock the true value of these companies, he added.

Jaitley said the CPSEs will be integrated across the value chain of an industry through consolidation, mergers and acquisitions. By these methods it will give them capacity to bear higher risks, avail economies of scale, take higher investment decisions and create more value for the stakeholders, he added. Possibilities of such restructuring are visible in the oil and gas sector.

The government proposes to create an integrated public sector ‘oil major’ which will be able to match the performance of international and domestic private sector oil and gas companies.

The Finance Minister said that the Exchange Trade Fund (ETF), comprising shares of ten CPSEs, has received overwhelming response in the recent Further Fund Offering (FFO). The government will continue to use ETF as a vehicle for further disinvestment of shares. Accordingly, a new ETF with diversified CPSE stocks and other Government holdings will be launched in 2017-18, he added.

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