Industry & Economy
-
Budget
Markets
-
Disinvestment
Silence on disinvestment could be heard aloud
Our Bureau
New Delhi, July 6 Belying expectations that the Government would present a roadmap for revitalising the disinvestment programme, the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, today came out only with a few soft statements of intent on the divestment front.
The move seems to have disappointed the stock markets.
The Government has pegged the revenue estimates from disinvestment at Rs 1,120 crore for 2009-10, lower than the revised estimate of Rs 1,165 crore for 2008-09.
For 2009-10, the Government proposes to disinvest a small portion of equity in Rail India Technical and Economic Services Ltd, Cochin Shipyard, Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd, Manganese Core India Ltd, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd.
After the Economic Survey for 2008-09 called for a plan to garner disinvestment proceeds of at least Rs 25,000 crore a year, the expectations were high that Mr Mukherjee would spell out a “big-ticket” disinvestment agenda for the coming months.
In his Budget speech today, Mr Mukherjee not only assured Parliament that public sector enterprises such as banks and insurance companies will remain with the Government, but also highlighted the merit in the balanced approach that the Government has been taking towards the banking and financial sector. “The merit of this balanced approach has been borne out in the recent experience, as the turbulence in the world financial markets has left the Indian banking and financial sector relatively unaffected.
Never before has Indira Gandhi’s bold decision to nationalise our banking system exactly 40 years ago appeared as wise and visionary as it has over the past few months,” he said.
On people’s ownership of public sector enterprises, Mr Mukherjee said that he proposes to encourage people’s participation in the disinvestment programme.
He also emphasised that the Government would retain at least 51 per cent equity in the public sector enterprises.
More Stories on :
Budget |
Disinvestment
Article
E-Mail
::
Comment
::
Syndication
::
Printer Friendly Page
|
