NEW DELHI - India has prepared a preliminary list of 25 public sector companies it could float on the stock market as it seeks to accelerate state asset sales, a report Wednesday said.

Among the firms are Nuclear Power Corp of India, the National Bank for Agriculture and UTI Asset Management, which is India's oldest mutual fund, according to the Indian Express.

"This is not an exhaustive list and more companies could be added," the newspaper quoted an unnamed government official as saying.

The government announced last month it would float all profitable publicly owned companies and that 10 percent of all listed state-run firms must be publicly traded.

It has said it may sell stakes in at least 60 publicly owned companies but set no time-frame.

"I don't want to indicate a time that might help speculators. The object is to get the maximum price, not to do charity," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told parliament Tuesday.

Vijay Kelkar, head of a government financial panel, has estimated the total market value of public sector companies at 300-400 billion dollars.

After winning a strong re-election mandate in May, the Congress party-led government said it would press ahead with sales of stakes in state companies as it no longer had to depend on communist support to survive in parliament.

The proposed sales are opposed fiercely by leftist parties and unions.

The government has said it will use the funds raised for social spending such as poverty alleviation.

It has also said it needs the money to ease mounting pressure on India's fiscal deficit.

Mukherjee has promised the government will keep at least a 51 percent stake in public sector companies.

Government stake sales since August in two state firms - utility NHPC and Oil India, the country's second-biggest state-owned energy explorer - have fetched around 1.8 billion dollars.