The shareholders of State-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) have approved a company's plans to buy-back its own shares.

SAIL Chairman C S Verma did not announce a time frame for the buy-back while he was speaking to the media after the company's annual general meeting. He said that the company has only received the enabling approval and buy-plan will dependent on other factors including market conditions.

"It is an enabling provision that has been accepted. Today there was no provision in the Article of the Association of the company. So we have made this provision and got this approved by the shareholders. Now if there is a need or our Board decides so, we can buy back shares," he said.

SAIL, which is the largest producer of steel in India, had a cash reserves of Rs 6,415 crore as on March 2012. The union government is considering disinvestment of SAIL and it has announced its decision to sell 10.82 percent stake in July.

Mr. Verma said that the timing of the disinvestment will be determined by the Department of Disinvestment and not the government.