The investors have not responded with much enthusiasm in the markets even after the cabinet gave in-principle nod for the proposal to allow PSUs to buy back their own shares.

Experts say that the investor response may have been slow because the government has given only in-principle approval for the proposal and the time frame for the official approval is not given.

The Bombay Stock Exchange-PSU index did not have a significant movement. PSU banks have a large weightage on the index and this may have been the reason for no change in the index. Out of the total 60 stocks in the PSU index, PSEs only make 35 of them.

It is not known if which company will take part in the approval. PSUs like NTPC, ONGC, Coal India, MMTC and STC have seen mixed results in the market. The Sensex has fallen 190 points much after the news of the approval surfaced in the media. Government is giving the approval as part of its divestment programme.

Meanwhile, the government is offering about 428 million of its shares in ONGC on Thursday, which will reduce its stake in the company from about 74 per cent at present to 69.1 per cent.

The state run oil maker has a market value of more than $49 billion. The stake sale, which will help the government get closer to achieving its target of generating Rs 40,000 crore from disinvestments, will happen on Thursday.