By Shaleen Agrawal NEW DELHI, DEC 30 : Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd's follow-on public offer for sale of shares will likely hit the market by end of the current financial year, while Indian Oil Corp's public issue is uncertain, Petroleum and Natural Gas Secretary S. Sundareshan said Thursday. "The Department of Disinvestment has said it wants to divest equity stake in one company from the oil sector in the current financial year (2010-11)," Sundareshan said at a press briefing. Government will thus go ahead with ONGC's FPO since now there is clarity on the maximum proportion of fuel subsidies that it will have to share, Sundareshan said. Government proposes to sell 5% from its equity stake held in the state-owned ONGC to raise an estimated Rs 130 billion via a public issue. It currently holds 74.14% stake in the company. The state-owned oil exploration and production companies have to share marketing companies' losses on sale of retail fuel at government-controlled prices, which are sometimes lower than cost. As part of the mechanism, upstream companies like ONGC will have to share a maximum of one-third of the marketers' under-recoveries, with the balance being promised to be contributed by the ministry of finance and marketing companies themselves, Sundareshan said. Government has a target to raise Rs 400 billion in current financial year via selling its equity stakes in public sector enterprises to help it bridge a high fiscal deficit. Filed by Jones Koshy +91 (22) 6147 5100. feedback@tickerplantindia.com Copyright (c) TickerPlant Ltd.