It's not right time for divestment in PSUs, says Pranab

With stock markets in tail-spin, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today indicated the time was not right for selling government's stake in PSUs.

"...I am fully aware of the current volatile situation in the market, and surely not only me, any prudent Finance Minister would not like to dispose of valuable assets," Mukherjee said in the Lok Sabha.

He was answering questions on disinvestment policy.

The government has plans to mop up Rs 40,000 crore from selling its stake in different public sector units.

Europe's debt problem and worries about the world economy had resulted in sharp fall in the US and European markets.

The mayhem in global stock markets also pulled down the BSE Sensex to below the 16,000 level after nearly 15 months on sustained pull-out by foreign funds, although it recovered a little to close at 16,141.67, still down by 328 points.

Mukherjee said while taking decision on disinvestment, the government would keep in mind the market condition.

"We cannot sell our valuable assets at a condition, at a market situation where we will not get the adequate prices," he said, adding the whole objective is to discover the latent price which is not known.

The real value of a company is discovered when its is traded on stock exchanges, Mukherjee said.