Oil India Ltd is likely to be listed on the bourses soon, according to company sources.

To start with, it will be listed on the Guwahati Stock Exchange. This will allow Oil India's 6,500 employees, holding around 40,000 equity shares, to realise the real value of their stock, which currently has a book value of Rs 300.

Listing plan

Oil India will be first listed on the Guwahati Stock Exchange This will allow the company's 6,500 employees, holding around 40,000 equity shares, to realise the real value of their stock, which currently has a book value of Rs 300 Petroleum Secretary B K Chaturvedi hinted that Oil India could go for a public issue once it was listed

In the absence of trading, these minority shareholders are unable to fetch more than Rs 100 a share from their stockholding. The employees together hold 1.83 per cent of the company's paid-up capital.

Petroleum Secretary B K Chaturvedi, who has written to the Securities and Exchange Board of India, and Finance Secretary D C Gupta, hinted that Oil India could go for a public issue once it was listed.

"The listing will provide an effective tool to benchmark Oil India's performance vis-a-vis other oil companies and create an opportunity to raise money from the market in future," he said.

Oil India sources also said the company was prepared for a public issue to raise money after the initial listing. "It does not matter if the government's shareholding comes down from 98.1 per cent to 51 per cent.

It may be brought down in stages. Trading in a small way will help us to prepare for the market," a company source said.

The petroleum ministry has sought exemption from an initial public offer for Oil India's listing as per Rule 19(2)(b) of the Securities Contracts (Regulations) Rules, 1957. The stock will be initially listed on the Guwahati Stock Exchange because most Oil India employees are located in the Northeast.

The petroleum ministry is of the opinion that though Oil India has had a satisfactory financial and management record, it is yet to avail of the facilities of listing on the stock exchange.

There is no level playing field with other public sector oil firms and employees holding shares in the company are not realising the value of their stock.