The government appears to be undecided over the issue of proposed stake sales in public sector units including oil major ONGC and engineering giant BHEL.

A panel of Ministers were unable to take a decision on the issue in a meeting and have decided to meet again to arrive on a final decision on the stake sale, which will help the government get closer to achieving its target of generating Rs. 40,000 crore from disinvestments.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, S Jaipal Reddy has said that the government is planning an auction route for disinvesting its stake in ONGC but the ministers have not decided on the time frame for the auction. He also said that the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) will meet again soon to discuss the matter and take a decision, while speaking in the aftermath of the meeting of EGOM.

Public Enterprises Minister Praful Patel indicated that the ministers have no decided anything on disinvesting BHEL and it might happen in the next fiscal year. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is heading the EgoM, who were to decide on the issue of disinvesting the two PSUs for raising about Rs. 14,500 crore in the current fiscal year.