New Delhi, July 22 (IANS): Merchant bankers bidding for being appointed for the stake sale by the government in 10 public sector undertakings (PSUs) are required to submit their bids to the department of disinvestment (DoD) by Friday.

A finance ministry source here told IANS that the DoD had earlier this month invited proposals for appointing merchant bankers for up to three years for the proposed stake sales in 10 state-run companies - Oil India, Container Corp, NMDC, MMTC, ITDC, NTPC, Engineers India, BEL, Nalco and Hindustan Copper.

The government has informed the interested bankers that the time taken for actual completion of transaction will depend on the market and other related conditions, the source said.

While the 10 companies have been divided into two baskets, the DoD would appoint four merchant bankers for each basket, he added.

Moreover, to prevent any conflict of interest, the merchant bankers have to certify that they are not advising or acting on behalf of any other person or entity which is engaged in the same line of business as that of each of the company constituting the basket being disinvested.

The government has an ambitious disinvestment target of Rs.41,000 crore through stake sale in public sector units, and another Rs.28,500 crore through strategic stake sale by transfer of management control, during the current fiscal.

It has recently approved the sale of a 10 percent stake in the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and five percent stake in the NTPC.