By Anjana Das

New Delhi, Jul 18 (IANS): The government's sell-off department DIPAM has written to the power ministry to explore the possibility of a big-ticket merger and acquisition of NTPC and SJVN, similar to the one between oil marketing PSUs ONGC and HPCL and power financiers PFC and REC, sources said.

"They are yet to respond," a source said.

"We need a big M&A (merger and acquisition) in oil, power or any sector to boost revenue flow to the disinvestment kitty", the source said.

In case of SJVN, the approval of Himanchal Pradesh government is also necessary as the state government holds about 27% stake in the power project while the Centre holds about 63%.

But before any step is taken , the ministry has to come around.

Government intends to sell the entire stake of 63% in the Himachal Pradesh based power entity and it is expected to fetch the Centre about Rs 8,000 crore as per first-hand internal calculations of the power ministry.

This merger or any other such M&A is required for Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) to meet the increased disinvestment target of Rs 1.05 lakh crore from the earlier Rs 90,000 crore.

In 2018, ONGC bought government's entire 51.11% stake in HPCL for Rs 36,915 crore.

In March this year, PFC (Power Finance Corporation) acquired 5 2.63% stake of Government in REC for Rs 14,500 crore.