Govt Gets Ambitious With Selloff

The Centre has set an ambitious disinvestment receipts target of Rs 15,000 crore for 2002-03 and has simultaneously proposed the creation of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for managing the disinvestment proceeds. The Rs 15,000-crore budget estimate for the next fiscal represents a 25 per cent increase from the BE in 2001-02.

According to senior government officials, the creation of an SPV will ensure that the disinvestment proceeds are specifically utilised to ensure a safety net for workers of public sector undertakings (PSUs) that are put on the block. The proceeds will also be used to turn around sick PSUs, recapitalise some of them and enhance their competitiveness to get a better value at the time of sale.

 

Officials said it was being debated whether the SPV should be delinked from the Consolidated Fund of India. This would mean that disinvestment proceeds would not be part of the overall receipts in the government