No more new listings for PSU privatization
FinMin sticks to privatisation of already announced CPSEs next fiscal; Govt received only Rs31,106 cr in FY23 as against budgeted Rs65,000 cr from disinvestment
New Delhi: The Finance Ministry will move ahead with the already-announced and planned privatisation of state-owned companies in the next fiscal, and the chances of the new addition to that list of CPSEs in the Budget for 2023-24 is unlikely, sources said.
The disinvestment target outlined in the Budget for the next fiscal is likely to be a scaled-down and realistic one, as the budgeted PSU sell-off target is going to be missed for the fourth year in a row this fiscal. In the current fiscal, the government had budgeted to collect Rs65,000 crore from disinvestment. However, so far, it has realised only Rs31,106 crore by selling minority stakes in public sector companies.
After tasting success in privatising loss-making Air India in 2021, the progress of PSU sell-off has not been very impressive over the past year, and experts say that with the general election around the corner in 2024, no major disinvestment announcement is expected in this Budget either. "The plan is to move ahead with the strategic sale of the companies for which the Cabinet approval is already in place," an official said.
