Union government earned ₹7 billion, selling ‘Enemy Shares' -

New Delhi: The Union government has raised ₹ 850 billion through disinvestment. The government has exceeded the target for divestment for the second consecutive year and out of this ₹7 billion has been raised from the sale of Enemy Shares. This is the first time the government has sold Enemy Shares.

Last year, in November, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal for sale of Enemy Shares. Before that, the Government got the amendments to the Enemy Property Bill, approved from both the houses in the parliament. The properties of citizens of India, who chose to migrate to Pakistan and China at the time of partition and took the citizenship of those countries, are termed as enemy properties. The right to sell these properties was vested with the government with the amendments to the Enemy Property Bill.

The total value of the enemy properties in India is assessed to be nearly ₹1 trillion, which includes a stock holding in various companies, valued at more than ₹30 billion. These stocks are labelled as Enemy Shares.

Five months ago, Enemy Shares were sold for the first time, following an approval from the Union Cabinet. These shares owned the Custodian of Enemy Property of India. This shows that the government has initiated implementation of the amended Enemy property Bill.

The government had set a target of ₹800 billion for disinvestment. But the government succeeded in raising more than the set target. The government raised ₹850 billion through disinvestment, of which ₹7 billion has been raised through the sale of Enemy Shares.

The government earned ₹113 billion through disinvestment and buyback, in the government undertakings like ONGC, IOC, Coal India, NLC etc. The shareholding in the public Sector undertakings like MSTC, RITES, IRCON, Garden Rich Ship Builders and MIDHANI has been diluted.

The government had set a target of ₹750 billion for the fiscal year 2017-18. But the government had surpassed this target too, by a substantial ₹ 250 billion, to raise ₹1 trillion in that year. A target of ₹900 billion has been set for the next fiscal.