Disinvestment plan aims to up efficiency and investments: FM

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government's disinvestment strategy is aimed at boosting the production and efficiency of state-run companies and attracting investments into the companies instead of shutting them down.

Sitharaman said the performance of public sector enterprises privatized between 1994 and 2004 had improved and are being now run by professional boards. 

The new public sector enterprise or PSE policy has opened up all sectors for private investors, including space and nuclear energy, she said at Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations in Bengaluru.

The government has lined up over half-a-dozen companies for strategic sale, including Shipping Corporation of India, CONCOR, Vizag Steel, IDBI Bank, Nagarnar Steel Plant of NMDC and HLL Lifecare.

A senior finance ministry official said the government was planning to come out with an expression of interest (EoI) document for the sale of shares in IDBI Bank by next month after getting clarity from the Reserve Bank of India on the structure and deal size of the proposed sale.

The government recently conducted roadshows in the US. Based on the feedback from investors, the government will seek clarity on the deal size, guidelines or conditions on mergers, consortium composition and the glide path for the government to reduce its equity holding in the bank.

In the case of Hindustan Zinc Ltd, the government will sell its holding via an offer for sale, the official added.

So far in the current fiscal year, the government has mopped up over ₹24,000 crore from disinvestments, including the public listing of LIC. The target for the full year has been set at ₹65,000 crore. In the last fiscal year, over ₹13,500 crore was realized via disinvestment, which also includes the amount realized via the privatization of Air India.