New Delhi: The government has sold equity worth only Rs 51,600 crore in state-run firms since 1991, but the market value of listed Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) has surged to over Rs 7.75 trillion making the establishment richer many times over.

According to a White Paper tabled in Parliament today by the Ministry of Finance, the central government raised Rs 51,600 crore from sale of equity in CPSEs and strategic sale of state-owned companies since the inception of the disinvestment policy in 1991.

"The total realisation from the strategic sale transactions was Rs 6,344.35 crore, which is around one-tenth of the total amount of Rs 51,608.8 crore raised from disinvestment till July 31, 2007," said the White Paper on Disinvestment of CPSEs.

The paper pointed out that the market capitalisation of the 40 CPSEs, whose shares are listed and traded on stock exchanges, was Rs 7.76 trillion as on July 31, 2007 with ONGC leading the chart with almost Rs 2 trillion.

According to the latest available data with the stock exchanges, the total market capitalisation of 44 listed public sector undertakings, part of the BSE-PSU index, currently stands at about Rs 14.55 trillion.

Besides ONGC, the other CPSEs with high market capitalisation include NTPC, BHEL, SAIL and IOC.

As regards realisation, the Paper said bulk of the receipts amounting to Rs 33,543.56 crore came from sale of minority shareholding in the state-owned companies.

The realisation from strategic sale of companies was Rs 6,344.35 crore, while sale of residual stake in CPSEs yielded Rs 6,398.27 crore to the exchequer.

Source : PTI