Govt gave in-principle nod for strategic divestment of 34 PSUs since 2016: MoS Finance Anurag Thakur

Since 2016, the government has given in-principle approval for strategic disinvestment in the case of 34 Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), in line with the criteria laid down by the NITI Aayog, the finance ministry has said. Some of these divestment cases pertain to units or plants while subsidiaries are included in some others, it added.

The information was provided by Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur on September 15, in response to a query in Rajya Sabha by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP CM Ramesh. He had, in an unstarred question in Parliament, sought details pertaining to the names of public sector undertakings (PSUs) that have been identified by the government for disinvestment, and the criteria adopted, for the same. MP Ramesh had also asked for information on how many of these PSUs are profit-making and how many have been running at a loss for the last three years.

Responding to the query, Thakur said that out of these 34 entities, the strategic disinvestment process had already been completed in eight cases while the same had been halted with respect to four CPSEs that are under consideration for closure. Additionally, the divestment of two of these CPSEs has been held up due to litigation and the remaining 20 transactions are at various stages, he added.

20 CPSEs for which strategic divestment is underway (Image: Ministry of Finance/Rajya Sabha)

"Strategic Disinvestment implies substantial sale of Government shareholding of CPSEs, which are not in priority sector, along with transfer of management control. NITI Aayog has been mandated to identify such CPSEs based on the criteria of (i) National Security; (ii) Sovereign function at arm's length, and (iii) Market Imperfections and Public Purpose. Profitability/loss is not among the relevant criteria," the minister said.

He further detailed that out of the 34 CPSEs, 19 had registered profits while seven had incurred losses during the last three financial years (2016-17 to 2018-19), as per the latest data available with the Department of Public Enterprises.