CIL stake sale likely this year: Coal minister

New Delhi, Oct 28: The five percent stake sale in state miner

India (

) is likely to take place by the end of this year, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said on Monday.

"It is likely that it (Coal India stake sale) may happen either in November or December," Jaiswal told media persons here.

"You may be aware that the Coal India chairman has gone (overseas) for this purpose only," he added.

The Department of Disinvestment (DoD) launched a roadshow last week covering five countries, including Germany and Britain, in order to attract foreign investors.

It has also selected seven merchant bankers, including Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and SBI Caps, to manage the stake sale, which is to be done through the offer for sale (OFS) route.

The coal minister said he is hopeful that despite CIL's production being hit this month due to Cyclone Phailin, CIL would achieve its production target of 482 million tonnes for the current fiscal.

The government currently holds 90 per cent stake in CIL. The DoD had originally planned to offload 10 percent stake in CIL, but faced strong opposition from the employees' union.

CIL workers' union had in September decided to defer its proposed three-day strike protesting the stake sale to Dec 17, from the earlier planned Sep 23.

IANS