Govt sells Rs 1,150 cr ‘enemy’ Wipro shares, state-owned firms major buyers

The government on Thursday sold “enemy” shares worth Rs 1,150 crore in IT major Wipro, aiming to transfer the proceeds to its disinvestment kitty.

Enemy shares are called so as they were originally held by people who migrated to Pakistan or China and are not Indian citizens any longer.

A total of 44.4 million shares, which were held by the Custodian of Enemy Property for India, were sold at Rs 259 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange, block deal data provided by the exchange showed.

The buyers were state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), New India Assurance and General Insurance Corporation. LIC alone picked up shares worth Rs 1,000 crore.

In November 2018, the government had sold shares worth Rs 700 crore in first ever sale of such shares.