The Centre government plans to sell up to 1.5% of its
equity stake in the country’s top oil and gas producer ONGC to raise around Rs
3,000 crore.

The Offer For Sale (OFS) by the government will open
on March 30 for non-retail investors and on March 31 for retail investors, Oil
and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) said in a stock exchange filing on
Tuesday.

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“The promoter (the government) proposes to sell up to
94,352,094 equity shares of the company, (representing 0.75% of the total
paid-up equity share capital of the company) on March 30, 2022 (to non-retail
investors) and on March 31, 2022 (to retail investors) with an option to
additionally sell 94,352,094 equity shares (in case of oversubscription),” it
said.

ONGC shares closed over 3% lower at Rs 171.05 on the BSE
on Tuesday.

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The Government of India owns a 60.41% stake in ONGC which
produces half of India’s oil and gas. It will sell around 19 crore shares at a floor price of Rs 159 per share.

In the OFS, a minimum of 25% of the shares are reserved
for mutual funds and insurance companies while 10% is kept for retail
investors.

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ONGC employees can apply for equity shares worth up to Rs
5 lakh each and 0.075% of equity shares sold in the OFS would be offered to
eligible employees at the cut-off price, the filing said.

Last week, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India
had said that India lost around 3.8 million tonnes of crude oil worth Rs 11,276
crore in four years due to less than planned water injection by ONGC in its western
offshore fields.

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The central government has been able to raise around Rs
45,485.87 crore through disinvestment and dividends combined as of January
2022. The divestment target for the fiscal year 2022, though initially was set
at Rs 1.75 trillion, was later revised to Rs 78,000 crore in the Budget 2022.