(ET)
Amid questions raised over stake sale in profit-making PSUs, the government said in Rajya Sabha that the criteria for disinvestment were not profit or loss. In oral reply to a question from Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, Minister of State for Finance, Anurag Thakur said that the criteria for disinvestment have been fixed by Niti Aayog and it is not on the basis of profit or loss.
The Minister said that the criteria have been decided on the basis of national security, sovereign functions, market imperfections and public purpose.”The government follows the policy of disinvestment, strategic disinvestment of CPSEs, which are not in priority sector,” Thakur said in the Upper House.
The Modi government has given in-principle approval for disinvestment of about 28 central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) which include profit-making companies like fuel refiner and retailer BPCL and Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR). As per the disinvestment plan, the government has decided to sell majority stake along with management control in various companies.
