Coal India (CIL) employees will get a 5 per cent discount on offer price in the government-owned company’s maiden public offer likely to hit the markets in July. The draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) is expected to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) by June 15, company’s chairman Partha S Bhattacharyya told FC.

“The DRHP can be filed only after receiving the government’s approval,” he said. Initially, about 10 per cent equity of CIL will be on offer for public. About one per cent of company’s shares will be offered to CIL employees exclusively, for which the government has decided to allow 5 per cent discount. Another 3 per cent shares will be marked for the families displaced by CIL operations and mines. A total of 63.16 crore shares would be offered through the public issue.

Bhattacharyya said implementation of company’s on-going projects would become easier if it allotted shares to the affected people. CIL is implementing 134 projects, which are at various stages of implementation.

Price discovery for CIL will done using the conventional book-building process based on a band determined by the pricing committee headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. The government will decide on discount to be offered to retail investors.

A coal ministry official said there was possibility of CIL floating a new trust which will hold the equity on offer for the project-affected people (PAP). The equity share for PAP would be higher than the employees’ share, he said.

The government awarded the navratna status to the PSU in September 2008 on the condition that it would get listed in the next three years. CIL is among the 20 PSUs that the centre proposes to list on bourses by selling up to 20 per cent stake in phases.

CIL contributes around 85 per cent of coal production in India. It has a sales turnover of over Rs 45,000 crore and employs nearly 4.25 lakh employees.

Around one lakh employees of four Indian government owned non-life insurers will strike work for two hours March 31, demanding 40 percent pay hike and an option to join pension scheme. They claim they have ‘done well and the management should reciprocate’.

All the unions in the four companies — National Insurance Company Limited, New India Assurance Company Limited, Oriental Insurance Company Limited and United India Insurance Company Limited — called for a two-hour walk-out from work places preceding the lunch recess March 31, the last working day of the current fiscal.

The unions warned of serious action if their demands were not met.

‘The four government owned non-life insurers have clocked a gross premium of Rs.18,222 crore up to February 2010 this fiscal, logging a growth of 12.21 percent over the corresponding period of the previous year. On the other hand, leading private non-life insurers have logged negative growth,’ J.Gurumurthy, secretary of All India Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA), told IANS Thursday.

He said the wage talks are still at the level of general manager level of the individual companies, steadfast on their offer of 17.5 percent salary hike, made at Kolkata Dec 22 last year.

The Governing Board of General Insurers Public Sector Association (GIPSA) Feb 5 informed the unions that it did not find it possible to improve the offer.

After the rejection of the offer of 15 percent increase, the GIPSA came up with a revised offer of 17.5 percent.

The AIIEA had demanded 40 percent wage hike so that there is pay parity with that of the private sector.

‘The chairman and managing directors seem to feel that it is not their responsibility to find a satisfactory solution to the wage demand of the employees and officers in consonance with growth, productivity and competitive environment,’ Gurumurthy added.

He said wage talks were resumed in Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) after the unions rejected the 17.5 percent hike offered.