‘No headway in disinvestment of state PSUs’

NEW DELHI: Disinvestment of state PSUs have not made much headway. Main progress on the disinvestment front in state-owned PSUs has only been in Madhya Pradesh. They have made a separate department for disinvestment and also did some asset monetisations, sources told TNIE.

“In Madhya Pradesh, they have made a separate department to give momentum to the disinvestment process. They have made some progress towards asset monetisation and land monetisation,” a top Government source said. 

The official also said that the Odisha government has also made some enquiries but nothing significant has been done by the state on this front. According to a government official, there are land issues in States. There should be clarity on land titles, documentation. 

“In some States, there is excessive land attached to the State PSUs. We are trying to demerge such land from such PSUs,” he added. Finance Minister Nirmal Sitharaman in one of her budget speeches, while elaborating the Centre’s efforts to disinvest Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), had also asked the state governments to look at selling or privatising some of their PSUs.

However, finance ministry officials have said that there has been a general lack of interest among states in exploring the route of selling state PSUs. The official quoted above also talked about opposition to disinvestment of some units of CPSEs based in states run by opposition-ruled states. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last year announced the Government’s plans to privatise all state-run companies except a few which are in strategic sectors such as defence and telecommunications.