Plan panel for bold disinvestment programme

The Planning Commission today called for a "bold and clear" disinvestment programme that would help in meeting the resource gap for the plan expenditure in the next two years.

"In our view, in 2010-11 and 2011-12, a bold and clear programme of disinvestment would help to meet some of these shortages (in resources for the plan expenditure)," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told reporters after a meeting of the full plan panel, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, here.

According to a note of the plan panel, there would be a shortage of Rs 1.6 lakh crore for plan purposes during the entire XIth five year plan.

Ahluwalia's remarks on disinvestment came as NHPC, the first major company disinvested by the new UPA government, was listed on the exchange. However, the share settled just 70 paise higher than the offer price of Rs 36.

The IPO of another major PSU--Oil India-will open on September 7 with a price band of Rs 950-1050 a share.

Talk of disinvestment in other PSUs has been doing the rounds, though there is no official word on them.

Ahluwalia said the Prime Minister told the meeting that as much importance should be given to finding resources as is given to raising efficiency.