Govt may target raising up to Rs 1 trn through asset sales in FY18: Experts

Govt gears up for divestment drive

BUDGET 2018 - India's government may look to raise as much as a record 1 trillion rupees ($15.7 billion) from the sale of state assets in the next fiscal year to help meet tough fiscal deficit limits while giving it room to boost spending and woo voters before general elections that must be called by early 2019.

Investment bankers and economists expect the finance minister, Arun Jaitley, to set an ambitious target for the year beginning on April 1 following strong sales in the current fiscal year to the end of March.

The government is on track to raise about 925 billion rupees this fiscal year after state-run ONGC, an upstream oil company, agreed to pay 369 billion rupees to buy just over 51 percent of refiner HPCL.

The deal is set to close this month and would take the government's asset-sales tally beyond the budget goal of 725 billion rupees, marking the first time in eight years that India had exceeded its targets.

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