New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS): An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) Thursday approved sale of a 10 percent stake in state-run Indian Oil Corp (IOC).
The EGom, headed by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, approved the sale of IOC stake worth $800 million through a block deal on the stock exchanges.
Announcing that Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) will buy the IOC stake, Petroleum Secretary Vivek Rae told media persons here that the transaction is likely "within the next week or so".
The EGoM had on Jan 9 deferred its decision on the IOC stake sale in the face of opposition from both the petroleum ministry and IOC on the grounds that the market price of the scrip was low due to volatile market conditions.
This option of public sector undertakings picking up IOC shares now breaks the earlier impasse on the sale issue.
The government has a disinvestment target of Rs.40,000 crore for the current fiscal.