The government currently holds 51 percent or more in over 25 central public sector enterprises (CPSEs)
Moneycontrol News
The Centre has rejected NITI Aayog's proposal to reduce the government's stake in non-strategic state-run companies to below 50 percent, The Economic Times reported.
NITI Aayog, which is the government's think tank, has reportedly recommended that the government shed its controlling stake in non-strategic public sector companies.
This would help companies gain autonomy and potentially raise the value of the government's remaining stake, it said.
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Even without the additional stake sale, the government is confident of raising over Rs 1 lakh crore through disinvestment this year, quite a bit higher than its target of Rs 80,000 crore, the newspaper reported.
Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.
The government currently holds 51 percent or more in over 25 central public sector enterprises (CPSEs).
Government officials told the news daily that it would be unfair to say that ownership and management needs to change for efficiency to improve, because several companies are performing well.
Because the government holds over 51 percent in several PSUs, there is insufficient room to raise revenue by decreasing shareholding without cutting it to 49 percent, an official was quoted as saying.
The failure of the plan to privatise Air India will not impact the government's disinvestment programme, since it has been excluded from the target.
"We are not too worried over the delay of Air India stake sale. There are other companies and the government will exceed the disinvestment target this year as well," an official told the paper.
The Economic Times had reported last week that the government intends to retain its majority stake in strategic sectors such as defence and oil.