BPCL divestment path: Cabinet to take up 100% FDI plan for PSU refiners

The Union Cabinet is ready to take up a proposal to allow 100 per cent international direct funding (FDI) in state-owned oil refiners to clear the regulatory path for the privatisation of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), in keeping with authorities officers.
The transfer, initially proposed by the Petroleum Ministry, might be positioned earlier than the Cabinet by the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). The divestment of the Centre’s 53 per cent stake in BPCL is a key a part of the previous’s disinvestment goal of Rs 1.75 lakh crore for FY22.
“If you are asking foreign players to bid, then it is natural to permit 100 per cent FDI,” stated a authorities official. Once cleared, the proposal will now not require a profitable international bidder for BPCL to hunt approval from the federal government. There are presently three gamers vying for BPCL, together with Anil Aggarwal’s Vedanta group, and personal fairness companies Apollo Global, and I Squared Capital’s arm Think Gas. Current FDI rules solely allow 49 per cent FDI in public sector petroleum refiners.
The official famous that whereas present rules allow 100 per cent FDI in non-public sector refining, a clarification could be required since BPCL can be a retailer of petroleum merchandise.