Tuesday, January 25 2005 14:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Government has decided to sell 10 per cent equity in Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) and 7.5 per cent shares in Maruti Udyog Ltd in the next fiscal to raise close to Rs 2,500 crore.

"We agreed today (Jan 25, 2005) that there will be disinvestment of 10 per cent shares in BHEL and 7.5 per cent stake in Maruti," Heavy Industries Minister Santosh Mohan Dev told newspersons after a meeting with Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

"The shares in BHEL and Maruti will be sold in the next fiscal as we expect better value with BHEL likely to post good results this fiscal. Maruti's performance has been good," he said.

Based on the current prices, sale of 10 per cent stake in BHEL is expected to yield around Rs 1,600 crore while sale of Maruti's shares will fetch between Rs 800-900 crore. Dev said that the Finance Minister has also agreed to his suggestion that employees of BHEL be offered as many shares of the company that they can buy.

He said that the money raised from sale of equity in Maruti and BHEL would be utilised for social sector schemes and even recapitalisation of the existing PSUs.

Indian public and mutual funds would be given preference during the sale of shares of both the companies, he said.