NEW DELHI: Reiterating the need of privatisation in the country, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said efficient management and use of the latest technology by the private sector will help unlock the value of CPSEs undergoing strategic sale and bring higher dividends for the economy.
“The unlocking of real value through efficient management and use of latest technology by the private sector may bring much higher dividends for the economy as a whole in terms of growth, productivity and employment,” Sitharaman said in the Lok Sabha. She was responding to a question on why companies like Shipping Corporation of India are being privatised when it is already making profit.
Sitharaman had earlier underlined the government’s resolve for value creation and improvement in the productivity of brownfield infrastructure assets.
Allaying concerns related to job loss, the Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur, during the question hour in the Rajya Sabha, also said employment and related facilities will be taken care of when a central public sector company, working in a strategic sector, is divested.
“If central public sector enterprises are given for privatisation or for strategic sale, in the sale purchase agreement to be entered, it will be decided that there won’t be job loss of people and all these facilities are provided,” Thakur said.
The finance minister further said that she is aware of the protests against the disinvestment decision. However, “the government intends to proceed with the decision taken by the CCEA”. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had on November 20, 2019, gave in-principle approval for strategic disinvestment of government’s shareholding of 63.75 per cent in the SCI, along with transfer of management control to a strategic buyer. Expression of Interest was floated on December 22, 2020.
“...Multiple EoIs have been received. After due diligence by Qualified Interested Bidders (QIBs), Request for Proposal would be supplied for submission of financial bids,” she added.
‘No proposal to bring petrol, diesel, gas under GST’
Amid record-high fuel prices, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said there is no proposal as of now to bring crude oil, petrol, diesel, jet fuel (ATF) and natural gas under the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged on Monday.