November 26, 2002	Tuesday	Ramazan 20, 1423

NEW DELHI, Nov 25: India’s minister in charge of privatization, Arun Shourie, said on Monday that 54 state firms had been identified in which the government was planning to sell equity in the current fiscal year.

All efforts are being made to complete the procedural requirements to finalise these cases, Shourie told the upper house of parliament in a written reply to a question.

However, he did not name the firms.

The Indian government has only managed to raise Rs50 billion from privatization in the current financial year against a targetted Rs120 billion from the proposed sale of stakes in 27 state firms.—AFP