• In a statement released on Twitter, Tuhin Kanta Pandey debunked media reports that had claimed that public sector companies may be allowed to bid for BPCL

• Sources who spoke to PSU Watch on the condition of anonymity said that sufficient interest has been received for BPCL sale

New Delhi: The Secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), Tuhin Kanta Pandey, has said categorically that Expression of Interest (EoI) was invited from the private sector only and therefore, public sector companies will not be allowed to bid for Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL). In a statement released on Twitter on Wednesday evening, Pandey debunked media reports that had claimed that public sector companies may be allowed to bid for BPCL. 

Pandey said, "An unfounded story by a news-wire agency incorrectly speculates that public sector companies may be allowed to bid for BPCL disinvestment. The EoI was invited only from the private sector. With the receipt of multiple EoIs, process has advanced to the Second stage."

Sources: BPCL has elicited adequate interest

Sources who spoke to PSU Watch on the condition of anonymity said that sufficient interest has been received for BPCL sale and therefore, at this stage, it is unlikely that PSUs could be asked to put in bids. The government has already announced a new public sector policy under which it is looking to transfer management control in public sector companies to a private player through strategic disinvestment in non-strategic sectors and retain ownership of only one to four PSUs in strategic sectors. Therefore, it seems unlikely that PSUs will be called in to bid for BPCL at this stage, when the word has it that the government has received adequate interest for the sale.

ALSO READ: Govt receives multiple EoIs, no extension in BPCL sale deadline, say sources

On November 16, the DIPAM Secretary had said that multiple EoIs have been received by the transaction adviser and the sale process will now move to the second stage after evaluation of EoIs.

The backdrop

BPCL sale will give the buyer access to 15.3 percent of India's refining capacity and 22 percent of the fuel retail market share in the world's fastest-growing energy market. The privatisation of the company is essential for the government to meet its disinvestment target of Rs 2.1 lakh crore for the current financial year.

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