The Government will sell 3.74 crore shares in National Fertilisers Ltd (NFL) through an offer for sale and the issue will hit the markets on Wednesday.

“The EGoM today has cleared NFL offer for sale (OFS). The issue will hit the markets tomorrow,” Disinvestment Secretary Ravi Mathur told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on disinvestment is headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had last month cleared the 7.64 percent, or 3.74 crore share proposal.

Government holds 97.64 percent stake in the company and the disinvestment is being done to make it compliant with Sebi norms.

As per Sebi norms, a public sector listed company should have a minimum of 10 percent public float by 8th August 2013.

The paid-up equity capital of the company, as on 31st March 2012, was Rs 490.58 crore.

The government uses the OFS route, popularly known as auction method, to divest its stake in PSUs that come under top 100 companies in terms of market capitalisation.

The government proposes to raise Rs 40,000 crore by way of disinvestment in the current fiscal. So far in the current fiscal it has raised over Rs 800 crore.