Due to the volatility in the stock market triggered by global and domestic factors the government has managed to mop up only Rs1,145 crore through disinvestment of PSUs against the target of Rs40,000 crore for the current fiscal

New Delhi: The government, which has ambitious disinvestment as well listing plans for profit making PSUs, on Tuesday said it is not the right time to hit the market, reports PTI.

Due to the volatility in the stock market triggered by global and domestic factors the government has managed to mop up only Rs1,145 crore through disinvestment of PSUs against the target of Rs40,000 crore for the current fiscal.

“Probably today is a bad time, but tomorrow might be a good day,” Department of Public Enterprises secretary DRS Chaudhary said when asked if it is the right time to list public sector enterprises.

He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of a CII function here.

As per the government disinvestment policy, all unlisted CPSEs with no accumulated losses and having earned net profit in the three preceding years are to be listed.

Mr Chaudhary, however, said that PSUs have a great potential and if more such firms are listed, their total market capitalisation could account for over 50% of total m-cap of all listed companies on the BSE.

“With (listing of) another 50 central public sector enterprises and state-level public sector enterprises (SLPEs) listed on stock exchange, their market capitalisation could go up to 50% which would be similar to PSUs share in China and Malaysia” he said.

At present, about 50 PSUs, including SAIL and CIL, account for 26.23% of the total market capitalisation of listed companies on the BSE.

Mr Chaudhary said the share of investments by PSUs in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) stood at 8.4% in 2009-10, whereas private firms’ investments stood at 22.3%.

During the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), the PSUs are expected to increase their share of investments in India’s GDP to 9.1%, while it may be 24% for private companies, Mr Chaudhary said.

Total net profit of all CPSEs went up from Rs5.87 lakh crore in 2008-09 to Rs6.6 lakh crore in 2009-10, registering a growth of 12.42%, according to the government data.

There are 249 CPSEs with a total investment Rs5.8 lakh crore the end of 31 March 2010.