The Centre is expected to meet its disinvestment target for the first time. Officials estimate that disinvestment would bring in receipts of at least Rs44,000 crore, if not the full targeted amount of Rs 45,500 cr. To meet the target, the Centre has relied more heavily on share buybacks and the PSU exchange traded fund instead of going for pure disinvestment issues such as listing, follow on offers and strategic sales that were expected to improve the functioning of public sector units (PSUs). The share buyback announcements by public sector Oil India Ltd and Engineer's India Ltd that are expected to raise Rs1,527 crore and Rs 658.8 crore respectively. Announced as part of the capital restructuring guidelines for state-run firms in May 2016, share buybacks by PSUs including Nalco, NMDC, and Coal India Ltd have already helped bring in Rs15,585 crore. According to data with the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, it has raised Rs39,368.7 crore this fiscal as disinvestment proceeds including stake sale of SUUTI holdings in L&T and ITC. Most recently, the third tranche of the government's PSU-ETF received bids for over Rs9,200 crore as against the target of Rs 2,500 crore. With direct tax collections slightly subdued, meeting the disinvestment target would also provide significant relief to the Exchequer in bridging the fiscal deficit that is estimated at 3.5 percent of the GDP in 2016-17. In the Revised Estimates for 2016-17 that was presented along with the Union Budget 2017-18, the Centre had lowered its disinvestment target from the earlier estimate of Rs 56,500 crore. Despite plans, it has, however, been unable to complete even one strategic disinvestment in a PSU this fiscal.