Bangalore: Union Cabinet would take a decision on the proposed initial public offerings (IPO) of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) within two months, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ram Naik, said.

Naik told reporters that the government has received IPO proposals from BPCL and IOC and the one from HPCL would be received soon.

The three companies are looking to broad base their equity. IOC and HPCL are constructing a new refinery each at Paradip in Orissa and Bhatinda in Punjab with an investment of Rs 9,000 crore each, respectively.

He said HPCL is constructing a new refinery at Bina in Madhya Pradesh with an investment of Rs 6,000 crore. In addition, all the three companies are also keen to take up expansion plans of their existing refineries.

The minister asserted, in response to a question, that government equity in three flagship companies, IOC, Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) and Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), would not come down below 51 per cent.

PTI