Government may ask profitable PSUs to get listed

The government is mulling a proposal for encouraging profitable subsidiaries of public sector units or government-owned companies to seek listing on the bourses and raise funds from the capital market, according to a PTI report.

"The proposal is at conceptual stage at the moment. The department of disinvestment would soon discuss the proposal with the concerned ministries to find out its feasibility," said an agency source.

The disinvestment department has called a meeting next week to discuss the proposal with the representatives of the ministries concerned, including the coal and petroleum ministries.

The listing of subsidiaries will help in raising resources for the PSUs and pay better dividends to the government, the PTI report points out.

The government classifies its profitable enterprises as 'navratna' and 'maharatna'; and has been desperately trying to sell a small part of its stake in these in order to raise money for its massive spending.

However, these efforts direction have had limited success so far; as apart from a down market, investors don't seem to be too keen on buying into government-controlled companies.