Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration is planning to offload a stake in state-run Coal India Ltd. to speed asset sales after a disastrous attempt to find a buyer for the cash-strapped national airline, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management is finalizing the amount of stake to be offered in the financial year ending March 31, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is not public. If needed, the government could explore the option of staggering the sale offer in two tranches, they said.
A Coal India spokesman asked for questions to be sent by text message, and didn’t immediately respond to them. Finance Ministry’s D.S. Malik declined to comment.
The government holds more than 78 percent in Coal India. It had previously sold a 10 percent stake in January 2015, mopping up 225.5 billion rupees.