Govt receives multiple bids for BPCL, request for proposal to be issued soon

NEW DELHI: Union government officials on Monday said that the Centre had received multiple bids from interested parties for its planned strategic stake sale in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL). Monday was the last day of the window for submitting bids and the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) had ruled out any further extensions. The government had been forced to revise this deadline at least four times over the past year.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted on Monday that the divestment process of BPCL will not move on to the second stage. “Multiple expressions of interest have been received by the Transaction Advisor. The transaction will move to the second stage after scrutiny by TA,” DIPAM secretary Tuhina Kanta Pandey said in another tweet.