FinMin gets bigger: Department of Public Enterprises now part of Finance Ministry

NEW DELHI:  Just ahead of the cabinet reshuffle, the government has merged the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) with the Finance Ministry to take better control of the companies which are to be privatised, better asset monetisation of the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) and to cut on procedural delays in the divestment process.

According to the gazette notification issued by the government, the department will work for coordination on matters of general policy affecting all public sector enterprises (PSEs), evaluation and monitoring the performance of PSEs, including review of capital projects, expenditure, improving performance and restructuring or closure of PSEs among others.

Post this arrangement, Finance Ministry will now have six departments while DPE’s hereto parent ministry. Presently, the Finance Ministry has five departments -- Economic Affairs, Revenue, Expenditure, Investment and Public Asset Management and Financial Services.   After the restructuring, the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises will now be called the Ministry of Heavy Industries and will continue to be the administrative ministry related primarily to the capital goods sector.

As many as 44 CPSEs including BHEL, Cement Corporation, Scooters India, HMT and various other subsidiaries would be under the Ministry of Heavy Industries. The gazette notification issued said these rules may be called the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Three Hundred and Sixty First Amendment Rules, 2021. “They shall come into force at once,” the notification said.

This is not the first time it is happening. The department started in 1965 as the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) under ministry of finance and was later shifted under the ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises.

Earlier even the Disinvestment Ministry created under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government was merged with the Finance Ministry. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget 2021-22 had set a target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore from stake sale in public sector companies and financial institutions during 2021-22.

Post rejig

• The Finance Ministry will now have six departments Department of Public Enterprises, Economic Affairs, Revenue, Expenditure, Investment and Public Asset Management and Financial Services
• 44 CPSEs including BHEL, Cement Corporation, Scooters India, HMT and various other subsidiaries would be under the Ministry of Heavy Industries
• Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises will now be called the Ministry of Heavy Industries