Mumbai: The Government has no plans to
divest stake in maritime major Shipping Corporation of India
(SCI) and port dredging firm--Dredging Corp of India (DCI), a
senior government official said today.
"As of now, there is no immediate proposal that we are
working on. We will have to look at the corporations' own
needs and the government's fiscal requirement. They (SCI and
DCI) will manage on their own," Shipping Secretary, K
Mohandas, told reporters here.
Shares of Shipping Corp closed down by 5.57 per cent
on the Bombay Stock Exchange today at Rs 163.50. The scrip of
Dredging Corp of India too nosedived by 10.65 per cent to
close at Rs 649.90.
The Government holds over 80 per cent stake in
Shipping Corp while in Dredging Corp it owns 78.56 per cent
shares. In July last year, the Shipping Ministry had announced
plans to off-load stake in many public sector units, including
SCI and DCI.
"We feel that this is the time for Shipping Corp to
acquire more vessels and expand their fleet, because we feel
that there is some advantage in current market conditions for
acquisition of vessels," Mohandas said.
He added India was weak in the area of dredging of
ports and DCI needed to enhance its capacity by collaboration
with international companies.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, January 21, 2010, 19:16