Union Cabinet approves sale of Govt. of India’s equity in DCIL to consortium of four ports

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has recently approved strategic disinvestment of 100% Govt. of India’s equity in Dredging Corporation of India Ltd. (DCIL) to consortium of four ports – Vishakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT), Paradeep Port Trust (PPT), Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Trust (JLNPT) and Kandla Port Trust (KPT). The Govt. of India (GoI) currently holds 73.44% in DCIL. The approval will further facilitate the linkage of dredging activities with the ports, keeping in view the role of the DCIL in expansion of dredging activity in the country as well as potential scope for diversification of ports into third party dredging. The GoI has budgeted to raise Rs 80,000 crore from PSU disinvestment. So far this fiscal, the government has mopped up over Rs 15,000 crore from PSU stake sale.