The government is planning stake sale of three public sector units (PSUs), viz. Hindustan Copper, NMDC and Oil India, by the end of December this year to pocket estimated proceeds of Rs 12,000 crore, disinvestment secretary Mohammad Haleem Khan said.

Speaking to reporters, Khan said, “HCL (Hindustan Copper) disinvestment will be next, followed by NMDC and OIL (Oil India). We hope to garner Rs 12,000 crore through three issues by December end.”

The government has a target to garner 30,000 crore during the fiscal year of 2012-13, but it is yet to begin its disinvestment programme even as seven months of the current fiscal have already passed.

But, Khan said that the Department of Disinvestment (DoD) was confident that it would meet the target of Rs 30,000 crore disinvestment before the end of this year.

The Cabinet has already approved stake sales in four public sector companies, viz. Oil India Ltd, Minerals & Metals Trading Corporation, Hindustan Copper Ltd and Nalco, which are expected to fetch around Rs 15,000 crore.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet is discussing a proposal divest the government’s 10 per cent stake in Bangalore-based defence equipment manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). Currently, the government owns cent per cent stake in the PSU.

But, an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) yesterday postponed the disinvestment of Nalco for the January-March quarter of next year. Previous month, the government had deferred the public issue of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) due to differences between the Steel Ministry and merchant bankers over the price of the issue.