Kicking off the mega disinvestment drive, government on Wednesday approved the sale of shares in Coal India, ONGC and NHPC to garner a combined Rs 43,000 crore.

"Disinvestment proposals of ONGC, Coal India and NHPC have been cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs," an official source said after a meeting of the CCEA, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

At current market prices, the sale of shares in state- owned CIL, ONGC and NHPC could garner over Rs 23,000 crore, Rs 18,000 crore and Rs 2,800 crore respectively, helping the government meet its disinvestment target of Rs 43,425 crore for this fiscal.

CCEA has cleared 10 per cent stake dilution in CIL, 5% in ONGC and 11.36% in NHPC through the Offer For Sale (OFS) route, sources said.

The government22,144 crore and Rs 13,894 crore through disinvestment, against the budgeted target of Rs 40,000 crore in each year.

In 2012-13, it had raised Rs 23,956 crore, as against the target of Rs 30,000 crore. In 2013-14, the government could raise Rs 16,027 crore, as against the budgeted target of Rs 40,000 crore. The target in revised estimates was scaled down to Rs 16,027 crore.