No diluting of stake in public sector banks: Govt
April 5th, 2008 | by admin |Chandigarh, April 3: A day after a high-level committee suggested reducing the government stake in public sector banks, the Centre on Thursday said that it would not dilute its majority holding.
“The government will not be reducing its stake from the level of 51 per cent in the public sector banks and they will continue to maintain their public character with government holding,” Union Minister of State for Finance Pawan Bansal said in Chandigarh on Thursday.
A high-level committee, appointed by the Planning Commission and headed by Plan panel member Anwarul Hoda, in its report submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the day before had asked the government to trim its stake in pubic sector banks to 33 per cent.
When asked whether the banks would face any problem in raising the capital without reducing the government stake, Bansal said banks had several options with them.
“Banks can go for a private equity placement or follow-on public offer to raise money,” he said. The minister said the government has received the opinion of the committee and it should be discussed at the appropriate platform.
