State Govt. calls bids for Punjab Comm

NEW DELHI: India's northern Punjab state invited preliminary bids on Monday for its 69.79 percent stake in Punjab Communications, which makes telecommunication equipment and offers software services. The state government said through newspaper advertisements that prospective bidders must have a net worth of at least one billion rupees ($20.56 million) and should submit their "expressions of interest" by September 2.

Shares in Punjab Communications closed 1.1 percent higher at 65.45 rupees on Friday on the Bombay Stock Exchange, whose main index ended 0.31 percent up. The move to sell controlling stakes in state-run companies to strategic partners is a part of India's privatization drive that has gathered steam since the start of 2002. Merchant banker SBI Capital Markets has been appointed as the financial advisors to Punjab State Electronics Development and Production Corp Ltd., a state-run body under the Punjab government, which owns the stake.

($1 = Rs 48.64 )

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