The government has kicked off the process to sell off its minority stake held in as many as 51 listed and unlisted companies through SUUTI (Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India) by inviting bids from merchant bankers to assist and advise for the stake sale. The stake sale of SUUTI, which has holdings in companies such as Axis Bank, ITC Ltd, Larsen & Toubro Ltd, Hindustan Unilever, Jaiprakash Associates, will be conducted over the next three years. Among the other listed firms are Ambuja Cements, Hero Motocorp, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, Tata Power, Tata Motors, BPCL, Ultratech Cement, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Videocon Industries. The major shareholding of SUUTI includes 11.66 per cent in Axis Bank, 11.27 per cent in ITC Ltd and 8.18 per cent in L&T. Based on Friday's closing prices of the companies' shares on the BSE, the stake sale in the three companies could help the government mop up about Rs 60,340 crore. Of the 51 companies in which SUUTI holds stakes, 8 are unlisted entities - NSDL, STCI Finance, Over The Counter Exchange of India, Stock Holding Corporation of India, UTI-IAS Ltd and UTI Infrastructure Technology Services, North Eastern Development Finance Corporation and NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure. Having consistently fallen short of meeting disinvestment targets over the last six years, the move to sell SUUTI holdings will help the Centre raise revenue. The total target for disinvestment for 2016-17 has been set at Rs 56,500 crore, out of which Rs 36,000 crore is estimated from minority stake sale in public sector firms, while Rs 20,500 crore is estimated to be raised from strategic sale in both profit and loss-making companies.