Govt may sell CIL stake on Thursday

State-owned coal miner Coal India Ltd (CIL) on Wednesday posted a fall of 6.67 percent in its net consolidated profit at Rs.3,764.35 crore for the first quarter of 2015-16 as against Rs.4,033.28 crore in the corresponding timeperiod past year. “Decision will be taken soon”, said a senior government official.

Other income of Coal India in April-June 2015 dropped to Rs 1,447.12 crore, down 13.5 per cent compared to Rs 1674.47 crore in the same period a year ago. The government now holds 79.65 per cent stake in Coal India (CIL).

The announcement on Coal India came amid growing investor concerns about the fate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reform agenda due to a political logjam in parliament. The government had last sold 10 per cent stake in the bluechip coal major on January 31, 2015.

Its gross profit, however, increased by 2.76 percent clocking at Rs.4,386.70 crore in the period under review compared to Rs.4,268.70 crore in the year-ago period. The disinvestment department is readying PSUs for stake sale and is seeking Cabinet approval for the same. It has Cabinet nod for about two dozen PSUs and is waiting for right market conditions to go ahead with the stake sale.

The finance ministry has invited bids from bankers to manage the sale of the government’s stake in the company as part of New Delhi’s broader disinvestment plan, which it hopes will raise as much as 695 billion rupees this fiscal year started April 1.