NEW DELHI, March 30 (Reuters) - India plans to sell up to 1.
5 percent of the state-owned oil and gas company through an offer starting on Wednesday, according to an exchange filing
.
The base price of the offer is set at Rs 159 per share
.
The government is aiming to raise 30 billion rupees ($397 million) from the stock sale, which starts on Wednesday for non-retail investors and on Thursday for retail investors over a two-day period
.
The government has delayed the initial public offering of the country's largest insurer Life Insurance Company until next year, citing market volatility, ahead of the end of the financial year on March 31
.
In the Feb.
1 budget, the government slashed its asset sales target to Rs 78,000 crore from an earlier target of Rs 1.
75 trillion
.
However, only Rs 12,400 crore has been raised so far
.
Shares of Indian Oil and Gas Corp fell 3 percent to nearly 171 rupees in Mumbai on Tuesday
.
