The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) led by Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram has fixed the floor price for the public sector miner NMDC auction at Rs 145-150 per share, government sources with direct knowledge of the matter revealed.

The floor price of Rs 145-150 per share is lower than yesterday's closing price of Rs 154.75 per share on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), but it is higher than the merchant banker's proposal of Rs 140-145 per share.

The government aims to raise at least Rs 5500-5700 crore from the planned sale of its stake in NMDC. The disinvestment will take place via the OFS (offer for sale) route on Wednesday.

After Hindustan Copper Ltd, NMDC is going to be the second public sector company in which the government will divest its stake. The Government offloaded its 5.58 per cent stake in Hindustan Copper Ltd to gather Rs 807 crore.

Mr. Chidambaram recently reiterated that the government would meet its disinvestment target of Rs 30,000 crore before the end of this fiscal.

Currently, the Government owns 90 per cent stake in NMDC. The remaining 10 per cent stake is owned by domestic institutional investors (8.42 per cent), retail investors (0.92 per cent) and foreign institutional investors (0.66 per cent).