Flight of disinvestment: Centre's PSU stake sale programme remains elusive

Air India flew and LIC moved, but a big-bang PSU stake sale programme has proved to be elusive so far

In February 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for selling the government’s equity stakes in non-strategic public sector units (PSUs), saying sustaining loss-making enterprises on taxpayers’ money drained resources that could have been spent on public welfare.

“The government has no business to be in the business,” he said. “Modernise and monetise is the motto we will follow.”

Soon after, the government unveiled a disinvestment pipeline featuring Air India, Container Corporation of India (Concor), Central Electronics, BPCL, and IDBI Bank. The beleaguered national carrier is now owned by the Tata Group and is creating ripples with its