The present unstable stock markets have unfazed the government as well as the public, and keeping this into consideration, it has been told by the finance ministry on Tuesday that by selling the entire equity in state-owned companies this financial year, they aim to raise Rs. 40,000 crore.

As told by R Gopalan, who is the Secretary in Department of Economic Affairs, on the sidelines of a CII event, "We hope that we would be able to meet the disinvestment target".

The target to achieve by March 2012 is Rs. 40,000 crore, and till now, the government has been able to collect only Rs. 1,100 crore and that too by delegating its stake in Power Finance Corporation (PFC).

As far as the global economic downturn is concerned, in the last few months, all the stock markets have been facing a tough period and due to this, whether in terms of inflation or increasing interest rates, every economy is bounded with some or the other host of domestic concerns.

After a span of 21 months, the industrial production growth was noticed to slope down by 3.3% and following this on Monday, with a closure at 16, 501 points, the BSE benchmark index, Sensex, also fell down by 2.17%.