NEW DELHI: In order to make strategic disinvestment of government companies through privatisation smoother, some legal changes need to be made in context of land-holding of these companies, disinvestment secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said on Wednesday.
“We need to expand the internal capacity and do some legal changes for the strategic disinvestment of CPSEs through privatisation. It is important as lot of government companies have got land at very important places as real estate,” Pandey said at a FICCI event.
The secretary said it is important to demerge land from the operating companies as the process would become quick and a better value can be discovered.“So to bundle it (land) with the operating companies, neither the bidders would be interested because it will be very costly, nor it is necessary. You can’t load real estate into operating companies as you have to be nimble and the better value will be discovered if they are demerged,” Pandey stated.
He said once the demerger of land and non-core assets of some CPSEs complete, the government would begin the strategic sale process. The Corporate Affairs ministry recently cleared the demerger of land and non-core assets of BEML to BEML Land Assets Ltd.
Meanwhile, Pandey also said in the present context of economy, there is a need to unshackle investment opportunity in terms of strategic disinvestment via privatisation. As per him, in next 7 to 8 years, $10 billion of investment will come in Neelachal Ispat Nigam.
“In next 7 to 8 years, in Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd, 10 billion dollars of investment will come. We are also looking at Kalinga Nagar as the most cost -effective steel making hub in the world with 18 to 20
mln tonnes of capacity,” Pandey added.