Government offers Maruti staff shares of the company

The Indian government has just picked up a cool Rs. 1,568 crore from sale of its eight per cent equity in Maruti Udyog Ltd. Now, they have announced further plans to offer transfer of 0.01 per cent of its shareholding in favor of the company’s employees for Rs. 2.63 crore.

This decision has been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and it would see close to around 39,777 equity shares offered to the MUL employees. As a result, the stake of the government in the company would drop to 10.27 per cent from the current level of 10.28 per cent.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said in a statement on this new plan of the government: “The CCEA approved the proposal to give 39,777 equity shares in favor of MUL employees who had responded to our offer of 20 shares per employee at the rate of Rs. 660 per share.”

He further added: “There will be no lock-in period (for sale of the shares in secondary market). We will complete the transaction in February or latest by early March.”