India is poised to surpass its Rs 80,000 crore disinvestment goal for this fiscal year, driven by the record-breaking sale of LIC shares and anticipated transactions in IDBI Bank, signalling a rare success in asset monetisation amid fiscal pressures.
India looks set to exceed its Rs 80,000 crore disinvestment target this fiscal year after a large share sale in Life Insurance Corporation of India gave the government a major early boost, according to the material supplied. The tally would mark an uncommon success for a programme that has often fallen short of its goals in recent years.
The biggest contribution so far came from the LIC transaction, which raised Rs 31,550 crore and stands as the government’s largest divestment in years. Combined with earlier stake sales in Coal India and Indian Railway Finance Corporation, proceeds have already pushed past $5.5 billion, with another major transaction still in view.
That next step is the long-delayed sale of the government’s holding in IDBI Bank, which officials expect to complete before the fiscal year ends. Moneycontrol has reported that the LIC and IDBI transactions together could deliver up to Rs 80,000 crore, comfortably ahead of the Union Budget 2025 target of Rs 47,000 crore for miscellaneous capital receipts.
The push matters because public finances are under pressure. Higher fuel and fertiliser subsidy costs, linked in part to the conflict in West Asia, lifted subsidy spending in the April-to-June quarter by 37% from a year earlier, while overall government expenditure rose 11%. At the same time, dividend income has been surprisingly strong: from April 1 to August 5, the government received Rs 3.24 trillion, already more than the Rs 3.16 trillion expected for the full year, with the Reserve Bank of India alone paying a record Rs 2.87 trillion.
According to the reports, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has set quarterly targets for the disinvestment department to sustain momentum, while asset monetisation has not yet been deployed on a major scale. That leaves room for the government to lean on land sales or infrastructure trusts if additional revenue is needed, even as earlier years show how difficult it can be to hit divestment goals consistently. In fiscal 2023-24, for example, the government raised Rs 16,507 crore through disinvestment in public sector enterprises, well below expectations.
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