House Panel Opposes Power Psus Selloff

The parliamentary standing committee attached to the ministry of energy has expressed surprise over the referring of the National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC), the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) and the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) to the disinvestment commission without the power ministrys approval.

The committee is surprised to know that while public sector units (PSUs) like NTPC, PGCIL and NHPC have been selected for disinvestment, the ministry of power was not even aware that the PSUs were going for disinvestment and their views were not sought for, the standing committee said in its sixteenth report.

 

Pointing out that the three PSUs themselves were not in favour of disinvestment, the committee recommended that they should not be taken up for disinvestment since they were profit making undertakings.

The power ministry had told the committee that NTPC, Powergrid and NHPC were referred to the disinvestment commission by the government without seeking any specific approval from the ministry.

The ministry told the committee that the three PSUs have not exactly favoured disinvestment for reasons such as low earning ratios and the need for higher funding in power projects in the future.

NTPC, at Rs 7,334.97 crore, has the highest share capital among the 50 PSUs referred to disinvestment commission. While PGCIL and NHPC at Rs 2,972.24 crore and Rs 2,832.48 crore respectively, have the third and fourth largest equity base among the PSUs referred.