Niti Aayog submits roadmap to PMO for PSU reforms

The Dollar Business Bureau

To initiate improvements in public sector units (PSUs), a roadmap reform has been submitted by NITI Aayog to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). This is with regard to the closing and strategic sale of government shareholdings in some earmarked PSUs.

“NITI Aayog has provided two different lists of public sector companies - one is that of sick companies which are in the list-of-probables for closure and the second is of companies which should be divested,” a source said. Through a strategic sale, the government will reduce its stake to 49 percent or less in these PSUs, the source added.

In his Budget speech 2016-17, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had referred to the sales of PSUs that NITI Aayog  will undertake. In line with that goal the government has set a goal to notch up Rs.56,500 crore from disinvestment in the current fiscal. Out of this, Rs.36,000 crore has to be raised through marginal stake sale in state-run companies and Rs.20,500 crore to come up from strategic sale. The government has kicked off the disinvestment process for this fiscal by raising Rs.2,700 crore, with stake sale of 11.36 percent in NHPC. It has made a list of about 15 PSUs that includes Coal India, MOIL, MMTC, NMDC, NALCO, National Fertilisers, and Bharat Electronics, for stake sale in the present financial year.

During the last fiscal, the government raised a mere Rs.25,312 crore through the process of disinvestment, which was way below the Rs.69,500 crore target. In comparison in 2014-15 the government had raised about Rs.24,500 crore in by stake sale in state-run companies, in 2013-14 about Rs.16,000 crore and in 2012-13 it was Rs.23,960 crore.