New Delhi: Indian government is chalking a plan for the sale of its stake in public sector companies by mid-August, Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla said.

Chawla said that the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India would finalise the government’s borrowing programme for the financial year on July 16. The government will have to raise more than Rs 4 lakh crore this year to finance the highest fiscal deficit on record.

At a Budget discussion organised by industry body CII, he said, “We will have a clear road map in the next three or four weeks ... The government will retain 51%, but the roadmap for disinvestment in terms of actual companies ... is being worked out.”

However, Chawla refused to give the exact amount that will be raised through disinvestment in the current fiscal. Another government official said the road map could target raising Rs 15,000 crore in current fiscal, depending on market conditions. The Economic Survey had recommended an annual disinvestment target of Rs 25,000 crore.

The public sector firms that figure in the road map include NHPC, Oil India and Tyre Corporation. Disinvestment in NHPC and OIL India alone is expected to fetch about Rs 3,500 crore. The finance ministry had, on July 14, held discussions with officials of some ministries to finalise the road map.

He said, “The ministries have been consulted. They are going to look at what is feasible, what percentage is to go when. There is a certain process which takes time.”