Government's Mega Sale: After Air India, Central Electronics sold for Rs 210 crore

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• Nov 30, 2021 | moderator

New Delhi: Government’s yet another ‘Mega Sale’ has been announced and this time it is Central Electronics which is up for sale for Rs 210 crore, the second privatization of a public sector entity in the current fiscal after the sale of Air India to the Tata group.

The transaction process of the ‘mega sale’ will be completed in the current fiscal year.

The government has set a target of raising Rs 1.75 lakh crore from disinvestment in state-run entities and listing of LIC. So far, the government has raised Rs 9,330 crore as disinvestment receipts. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) empowered Alternative mechanism, which includes finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, road transport minister Nitin Gadkar, MoS (independent charge) science and technology Jitendra Singh, approved the highest price bid of Nandal Finance and Leasing Pvt Ltd for sale of 100 percent equity shareholding of the government in Central Electronics Ltd (CEL).

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The public sector entity falls under the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). It was established in 1974, with an objective to commercially exploit indigenous technologies developed by national laboratories and R&D institutions in the country.

The CEL is a pioneer in the country in the field of Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) and it has developed the technology with its own R&D efforts, according to the company’s website.

The Finance Ministry said in October this year that it had received financial bids for the sale of 100 per cent stake of the government in Central Electronics Limited. This was informed by DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kant Pandey through a tweet. However, at that time he did not say how many companies had received bids.

On Monday, the government said that Nandal Finance had bid for Rs 210 crore and JPM Industries for Ts 190 crore. After this, due to the high bid of Nandal Finance, it was approved to sell CEL.

However, it is quite amazing to note how the government is on a ‘selling’ spree after Air India, India’s biggest national carrier, after incurring losses for many years, sold it to the Tata group, India’s largest conglomerate. After Air India’s mega sale, Central Electronics sale has just added the strawberry on the cake for the ruling BJP government, who is amassing revenue from a list of high-end sale deals.