Govt seeks legal advisers to sell Oil India, Engineers India stakes

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India took a step toward selling minority stakes in eight state-run companies including Oil India Ltd (OILI.NS) and power generator NTPC (NTPC.NS) on Friday, part of a drive to sell off $11 billion of government assets this fiscal year.

The government said in a statement it had invited legal advisers to submit bids by July 24 to manage the sales.

Other assets up for grabs include stakes in Engineers India Ltd (ENGI.NS), commodities trader MMTC (MMTC.NS) and Bharat Electronics Ltd (BAJE.NS).

So far, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has cabinet approval to sell minority stakes worth about 500 billion rupees ($7.89 billion) including a 5 percent holding in oil explorer ONGC (ONGC.NS).

Finance ministry officials, however, said this week that volatility in the stock markets due to the Greece crisis and a possible hike in interest rates by the U.S. Fed could make it difficult to achieve the share-sale target this fiscal year.

India has missed such targets in each of the last five years.

In the first three months of the current fiscal year, beginning April, the government raised $254 million by selling a 5 percent stake in Rural Electrification Corp. (REC.NS).

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar, Additional reporting by Himank Sharma in Mumbai; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Andrew Heavens)