India raises over ₹620 billion through public sector stake sales

India has pared its stake in ten state-owned companies since the start of the year, raising more than ₹620 billion, according to a CNBC 'Inside India' newsletter report by Priyanka Salve. Sales covered Cochin Shipyard, Indian Railways Finance Corporation, NHPC and Coal India, and a 6.5% stake sale in Life Insurance Corporation of India, priced at a 10% discount, brought in $3.3 billion and was oversubscribed. Excluding LIC, the other nine sales raised nearly ₹270 billion, taking the government past 65% of its ₹800 billion annual disinvestment target.

Anubhuti Sahay of Standard Chartered Bank called tapping divestment proceeds 'a very good strategy' given the government's downside revenue risk and higher subsidy burden. Alexandra Hermann Prasad of Oxford Economics said the funds would 'provide useful non-debt revenue' as spending growth makes the fiscal deficit target harder to reach, while Christian de Guzman of Moody's Ratings linked the proceeds to easing pressure from September 2025's GST rationalisation.