Govt To Sell Its Entire Stake In BPCL For $6.9 Billion - Report

Government of India is moving with plans to sell its entire stake in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), India's second-biggest state refiner, according to people familiar with the matter, said a Bloomberg report.

Mumbai-headquartered BPCL is an Indian government oil and gas corporation under the ownership of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India. The government has 53% stake in the BPCL, which is valued at about INR 509 billion ($6.9 billion).

Since the last week of April, government has allowed bidders access to the financial data of BPCL and some bidders have even held meetings with BPCL management, said the report citing one of the people privy to the development.

Privatization of BPCL could be the India’s biggest and crucial at the same time as the government needs to raise capital to make up the fall in tax revenues as the pandemic hits the Indian economy. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said last month the plan to raise about $23 billion from selling stakes in state-run companies, including BPCL.

BPCL is India's 2nd largest downstream oil company and is ranked 275th on the Fortune list of the world's biggest corporations as of 2019. BPCL ranked 672 in the Forbes 2018 list. It also has its subsidiaries -- Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL), Petronet LNG and Bharat Renewable Energy Limited.

Besides central government, the government of Madhya Pradesh also has a minor stake in BPCL through compulsorily convertible warrants. 

On Mar 2021, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) sold its entire 61.5% stake in Numaligarh Refinery in Assam to a consortium of Oil India Ltd. and Engineers India Ltd. and Government of Assam for ₹9,876 crore.

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