The Indian government has said that all profitable public sector enterprises would be listed on the stock exchanges with at least 10% public holding

The government on Monday expressed its resolve to divest stake in public sector units (PSUs) and said that all profitable public sector enterprises would be listed on the stock exchanges with at least 10% public holding, reports PTI.

"For providing the common man an opportunity to share in the growth of the central public sector enterprises, the government has decided to list profitable companies on the stock exchanges through a public offer of at least 10% of the equity," president Pratibha Patil said in her address to the joint sitting of both the Houses of Parliament.

Until now, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in its second term has listed two energy PSUs—NHPC Ltd and Oil India Ltd—on the stock exchanges.

Along with listing profitable public sector companies, the government has also decided to increase public holding in listed profitable companies to at least 10%.

At present, the public holdings in these companies range from 0.67% in MMTC to about 9.6% in Engineers India. The decision makes around 60 PSUs eligible for disinvestment.

Along with NHPC and Oil India, the government has also offloaded more stake in NTPC while the REC issue is open for subscription till tomorrow.

The government is also expected to come out with issues of mineral giant NMDC Ltd and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVNL).