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NITI Aayog Working On Second List Of PSU Divestment: Arvind Panagariya

The first NITI Aayog report was submitted to the finance ministry in June.



Indian five hundred and one hundred rupee banknotes (Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg)
Indian five hundred and one hundred rupee banknotes (Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg)

After submitting the first report on likely candidates for divestment to the finance ministry in June, the government’s think tank NITI Aayog is now working on another list of public sector companies to be considered for strategic stake sale, vice-chairman of the body Arvind Panagariya said.

“We are making the second list (for strategic stake sale in public sector companies). This will be in continuation to the first list,” Panagariya said.

The first report, also prepared by NITI Aayog, has been submitted to the finance ministry, he said.

NITI Aayog was tasked with identifying loss-making public sector companies in which the government could look to divest its stake.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech 2016-17, had announced a divestment target of Rs 56,500 crore, of which Rs 36,000 crore is estimated to come from the sale of minority stakes in public sector companies, whereas Rs 20,500 crore is estimated to come through strategic stake sales in PSUs.

Strategic stake sale refers to the government reducing its stake in the public sector entity to 40 percent or lower.

NITI Aayog had submitted two lists of state-owned companies in June, of which one comprised of sick PSUs which may be shut down, while the other was a list of companies which should be privatised.