Tuesday, May 28, 2013

NLC defends proposal to divest 5 pc stake

Chennai:

Neyveli Lignite Corporation defended the proposal to divest five per cent stake in the public sector unit stating that it is as per the guidelines of Securities Exchange Board of India on which department of disinvestment is acting.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Neyveli Lignite Corporation, chairman and managing Director B Surender Mohan said that divestment is very small as per the SEBI guidelines, which calls for 10 per cent.

As per SEBI guidelines all PSUs should have public share holding of 10 per cent. Currently, 6.54 per cent is already divested and balance about five per cent is proposed by Department of Disinvestment, he said

Even after the dilution of five per cent, the status of PSU will not be affected, said Mohan. The divestment is necessary otherwise the company faces the risk of delisting, according to director (finance) of NLC Rakesh Kumar.

Mohan’s statement comes in the wake of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa writing a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh opposing the Centre’s proposal to disinvest a further five per cent of the government of India’s (GOI) stake in the company.

Any proposal to disinvest even a small portion of the shareholding will lead to considerable labour unrest. Given the current acute power shortage in the State, any disruption of power supply from the NLC would very adversely affect the interests of the State, the chief minister has stated.

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