The ministry is confident of raising the amount budgeted through disinvestment in public sector companies ONGC, Coal India and a few others. This combined with savings in expenditure, as global commodity prices have dropped, will mean the fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent of GDP can be met.
"We may not go in for selling stakes in L&T and ITC," a top finance ministry official told ET. North Block was considering the sale of a part of the holdings through an exchange-traded fund but is now looking to sell only SUUTI's residual stake in Axis Bank. SUUTI currently holds a 11.28 per cent stake in ITC and 8.19 per cent in L&T. It holds 11.7 per cent in Axis Bank, which is worth more than Rs 13,000 crore. The holdings in the three companies are worth nearly Rs 60,000 crore at current prices, more than the Rs 58,000 crore budgeted to be raised from asset sales in FY15.
