The government holds a 51 percent stake in Pawan Hans Ltd, while the remaining 49 percent is with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).
The central government is making another attempt to sell stake in Pawan Hans, a public sector helicopter company. For this, the government has invited bids once again. The government has extended the deadline to submit initial bid for the acquisition of Pawan Hans by one month to February 18.
The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Deepam) has issued a notice stating that due to the current Kovid-19 situation and the challenge of traffic coming to investors willing to participate in the bid, the deadline was extended to 18 February 2021 has gone. Deepam had in December last year invited bids for strategic sales, including transfer of management control of Pawan Hans, a company providing helicopter services. The last date for bidding for this was kept on 19 January.
The government holds a 51 percent stake in Pawan Hans Ltd, while the remaining 49 percent is with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). ONGC has decided to sell its entire 49 percent stake with the government. Let me tell you that before that, two sales attempts have failed.
Company History: Pawan Hans was formed in 1985. It was formed as a public sector company to provide helicopter services to ONGC’s oil exploration activities. Pawan Hans has 686 employees as on 31 July 2020. Of these, 363 are regular employees while 323 are contract workers. The company reported a net loss of Rs 28 crore in FY 2019-20.
Let us tell you that the Central Government has accelerated the process of disinvestment. The process of sale of LIC, BPCL and Air India is also going on under this process. However, the process of selling the government stake in LIC is still at an early stage.
