To fund welfare, Nalco, Neyveli could show the Rs 48,000-cr way

A detailed firm-level analysis of the CMIE Prowess database, done by The Indian Express, shows that there are 17 listed public sector companies with a market capitalization of above Rs 5,000 crore (on June 21, 2006), where shares can be sold in the secondary market. This is particularly easy since it can be done by a pre-announced screen-based auction.

However, considering the peculiar opposition to the sale of BHEL shares by the Left on the grounds that it was a navratna, if the government chooses not to sell any shares of any of the navratnas, it could still raise Rs 17,116 crore by selling only non-navratnas and bringing its share in them down to 51 percent.

So, for example, the Central government owns 99.48 percent of the shares of Hindustan Copper Ltd. Retaining 51 percent and selling the rest could fetch the government Rs 3403 crore.

It owns 59.73 percent of SBI. If it were to sell 8.73 percent, it would still be the majority shareholder of SBI, and have Rs 3,399 crore in its pocket.

Even if the sale of shares is capped at a mere 10 percent, and even if it is restricted to non-navratnas, this would give the central government Rs 9,315 crore.