IANS

New Delhi, Aug 19: The government has ruled out selling its stake in National Aluminium Co (NALCO) and Hindustan Copper Ltd.

"There are no plans to sell stake in these companies. I don't see any reason to sell stake, especially in NALCO," Minister of Mines B.K. Handique said here on Wednesday in response to a query whether the government would offload stake in these two companies.

"There is no need, they are already making profits," Handique said on the sidelines of a seminar on mining organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

He, however, refused to make any specific comment on Korean steel major Posco, which he Tuesday said was planning to exit Orissa because of difficulty over land acquisition.

"We know there are some problems and we are looking into it," Handique said.

Posco has since denied it is pulling out of Orissa.

"There is no plan to move the project out of Orissa. Nor have we ever considered such a proposal," Posco general manager Saroj Kumar Mohapatra said after Handique's comments on Tuesday.