New Delhi : The government Friday said it has set up a new exchange-traded fund (ETF), Bharat-22, comprising 22 scrips including ONGC, IOC, SBI and Axis Bank.
This will be the second ETF from the government after it raised over Rs 8,509 crore from three tranches of CPSE ETF. Bharat-22 will have a diversified portfolio of six sectors, including energy, FMCG, finance, basic material and industrial and utilities, Finance Minis
The 22 scrips include central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), state-owned banks and government’s strategic holding in Axis Bank, ITC and L&T held through SUUTI (Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India). “While selecting each of these sectors, we have kept in mind sectoral reforms which have had direct impact on the valuation of these shares… We believe that this ETF will be a fairly successful one,” Jaitley said.
ETF functions like a mutual fund scheme and is bought by investors as units. The oil and gas and coal and mine PSUs whose scrips figure in the new ETF are ONGC, IOC, BPCL, Coal India and Nalco.
The other CPSEs which on the list are Bharat Electronics, Engineers India, NBCC, NTPC, NHPC, SJVNL, GAIL, PGCIL and NLC India. Only three PSU banks — SBI, Indian Bank and Bank of Baroda — figure in the Bharat-22 index. Also, the government holding in Axis Bank, ITC and Larsen and Toubro held through SUUTI is also part of the ETF basket.
A list of 22 companies effectively means that small tranches of government holding in CPSEs and PSBs will be included, he added.
Jaitley said the inclusion of three PSU banks in Bharat-22 is “consistent” with the government policy. “Government’s stake can go down to 52 per cent in PSU banks and whenever possible, we will look for a possible consolidation,” he added. The government had raised about Rs 8,500 crore through the three tranches of CPSE ETF last fiscal.
