After Air India, the stage is set for strategic sale of state-run Central Electronics Ltd (CEL). The government on Tuesday received financial bids for its stake in the entity. CEL is a pioneer in the country in the field of Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) with the distinction of having developed India’s first Solar cell in 1977 and first Solar panel in 1978 as well as commissioning India’s first solar plant in 1992.

Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) secretary, Tuhin Kanta Pandey tweeted, “Financial bids for strategic disinvestment of Central Electronics Ltd (CEL) received by Transaction Adviser. The process now moves to concluding stage.”

The government will sell its full stake in the firm along with management control. As per the Preliminary Information Memorandum (PIM) of CEL released by DIPAM, interested bidders (which can also include employees of CEL) must have a minimum net worth of Rs 50 crore as on March 2019. Resurgent India Limited is the advisor to the Transaction.

Pandey in an interview to ET on Saturday said the department has a heavy-duty agenda for this quarter, with financial bids planned for multiple PSEs. “We have 6-7 transactions going on in parallel. My agenda is quite heavy for this quarter. I don’t know what will mature faster because the due diligence is not the same for everyone.”