Government Withdrew its Offer to Sell Stake in BPCL

The Government of India said on Thursday that it had withdrawn its bid to sell its entire 53% stake in BPCL, stating that the majority of bidders could not participate in the current privatization process due to global energy market conditions.

The government earlier decided to sell the entire 52.98% stake in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and asked bidders to submit Expressions of Interest (EoI) in March 2020. By November 2020, there were at least three bids. However, privatization was stalled as two bidders dropped out and only one bidder remained in conflict due to issues such as lack of clarification of fuel prices.

The Department of Investment and Public Assets Management (DIPAM) said it received several EoIs from stakeholders in response to the invitation. A qualified stakeholder (QIP) has begun due diligence on the company.

In light of this, DIPAM said the group of ministers of divestment decided to cancel the current EoI process for BPCL's strategic divestment, and the EoI received from QIP remains canceled. 

The privatization of India's second-largest state-owned oil refinery and fuel sales company has attracted less attention, initially due to the volatile global oil price scenario and later due to the lack of clarity on domestic fuel prices.