New Delhi, Feb. 28: The Centre today decided to offload a 5 per cent stake in ONGC on March 1 through the auction route at a floor price of Rs 290 a share that could fetch the exchequer about Rs 12,000-13,000 crore.

“The ONGC stake sale through the auction route (will take place) in a couple of days,” oil minister S. Jaipal Reddy told reporters after a meeting of the empowered group of ministers, which was chaired by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.

“The floor price for the sale has been fixed at Rs 290 per share,” ONGC said in a late night filing on the NSE.

The floor price, the minimum price for selling a share, is over 2 per cent higher than ONGC’s closing price of Rs 283.05 on the NSE and Rs 283.55 on the BSE.

The auction will be between 9.15 am and 3.30 pm.

The government owns 74.14 per cent in ONGC and proposes to offload 427.77 million shares, or 5 per cent equity.

This will be the first stake sale through an auction on the bourses after market regulator Sebi notified the guidelines earlier this month.

The shares would be sold to institutional as well as retail investors on a “price priority” basis.