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Armed with a clear policy on strategic sales of public sector units, the Centre plans to dig out nearly two-decade-old files of the Disinvestment Commission to zero in on firms for the purpose.
“A lot of work has been done in the past on identifying PSUs for strategic sales that needs to be reviewed before we try to start the process on our own.
“We will examine the reports of the Disinvestment Commission as well as the Finance Commissions and work out a list of potential firms for strategic sales.” said a senior Finance Ministry official.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in Union Budget 2016-17, had announced a new policy for strategic sales that makes the NITI Aayog responsible for identifying State-run firms that can be sold off.
Plan preparation The newly renamed Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM — the erstwhile Department of Disinvestment) would act as a secretariat to the core group of Secretaries that would consider the recommendations of the NITI Aayog and prepare a proposal for the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
While a list of sick PSUs is already available with the Department of Public Enterprises, sources said the Centre will also review the earlier recommendations referring to specific PSUs and analyse if there has been any improvement in their financial health.
For instance, the first report of the Disinvestment Commission, way back in 1997, had studied about 40 PSUs including Hindustan Copper Ltd, Modern Food Industries and Hotel Corporation of India that had registered fluctuations in net profits and losses between 1991 and 1996.
Not needed Similarly, the Fourteenth Finance Commission, in its report, had noted that “there are non-priority enterprises that no longer need to be in the government's portfolio, either fully or partially”.
Sources indicated that to start with, the Centre may stay away from PSUs that were set through an Act of Parliament to avoid delays.
At least a few PSUs are likely to be identified by the middle of the year and the strategic sale process may be initiated for at least one of them over the next six-eight months.
The Budget has targeted raising ₹20,500 crore from strategic sales in 2016-17 apart from another ₹36,000 crore from minority stake sales in State-run firms.
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