New Delhi, Oct 18: Close on the heels of halting the disinvestment in oil PSUs, the sell-off process has suffered another setback with the government deciding to defer 'indefinitely' the closing of financial bids for Shipping Corporation of India and Hindustan Copper Ltd. The decision is believed to have been taken by the government in view of a host of court cases challenging disinvestment of SCI and HCL.
According to sources, the adverse decision of the Supreme Court halting disinvestment process in the two nationalised oil PSUs, HPCL and BPCL, could have a bearing on other privatisation cases.
The financial bids for SCI were slated to close on October 20, while bids for HCL were to be received before October 15.
As many as three bidders, Essar, Sterlite and Videocon, were in race for acquiring the government's 51 per cent stake in SCI. The disinvestment process for HCL, where the government proposes to offload 98 per cent equity, attracted two bidders - Sterlite and Birla Copper.
Bureau Report