PMO holds meeting to speed up strategic sale of PSUs

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Tuesday held a meeting to work out steps to expedite the strategic sale of PSUs identified by government think-tank Niti Aayog, a senior official said.

Niti Aayog has identified 35 PSUs, including Air India, Air India's subsidiary AIATSL, Dredging Corporation, BEML and Scooters India for strategic sale.

"There is not much headway in strategic sale of CPSEs because of opposition by certain organisations. The PMO tried to identify these bottlenecks and come up with the roadmap to expedite the whole process," the official, who did not wish to be identified, told PTI.

The government has set a target of Rs 90,000 crore to be mopped up from share sale of central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) in financial year 2019-20, higher than the Rs 80,000 crore target this fiscal.

Niti Aayog recently submitted to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) the fifth list of CPSEs, profitable as well as non-profitable, which can go for a strategic sale. This takes the total number of PSUs identified for strategic disinvestment to 35.

The companies which have been shortlisted for strategic sale include Air India, Air India's subsidiary AIATSL, Dredging Corporation, BEML, Scooters India, Bharat Pumps Compressors, and Bhadrawati, Salem and Durgapur units of steel major SAIL.

The other CPSEs for which approvals are in place for outright sale include Hindustan Fluorocarbon, Hindustan Newsprint, HLL Life Care, Central Electronics, Bridge & Roof India, Nagarnar Steel plant of NMDC and units of Cement Corporation of India and ITDC.