Government think-tank NITI Aayog is preparing another list of sick PSUs that can be privatised, its CEO Amitabh Kant said today. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had asked the think-tank to look into the viability of sick state-run companies. The Aayog has already recommended strategic divestment of 40 sick public sector units.
“NITI Aayog has already recommended 40 sick PSUs for strategic disinvestment. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) is working on it and the process is in an advanced stage. “...We have already sent four lists (of sick PSUs). We are working on the fifth list. We will also prepare the sixth and seventh list (of sick PSUs),” Kant said here. The government expects to raise Rs 80,000 crore from PSU disinvestment in the next fiscal, lower than the Rs 1 lakh crore raised this financial year.
The 2017-18 Budget had set the disinvestment target in public sector units at Rs 72,500 crore. This included Rs 46,500 crore as disinvestment of CPSEs, Rs 15,000 crore from strategic disinvestment and Rs 11,000 crore from the listing of insurance companies.