New
Delhi: The Left parties have agreed to consider the
government's plan to sell minority stakes in state companies,
finance minister P Chaidambaram said today.
The
statement has raised hopes for a revival of the virtually
shelved divestment programme.
However, according to Chidambaram "State firms short-listed
for the sale do not include leading government-owned companies
in sectors such as energy, power and metals."
A
few days ago the FM had announced that the government
had identified a few profit making non-navratna PSUs for
selling minority stakes by the end of the fiscal. He had
said, "We will begin discussions (with Left parties),"
but did not name the PSUs identified for a potential sale
of stake.
He
also said that the respective ministries would have to
come up with the proposals for divestment of PSUs under
them.
The
2005-06 Budget had set a disinvestment target of Rs4,000
crore. Faced with a resource crunch, the government is
under an pressure to mobilise resources to fund its ambitious
socio-economic projects like the National Employment Guarantee
Act as well as multiple developmental projects in the
social and infrastructure sectors.
The
government, which urgently needs money to fund infrastructure
development in the country, has been trying to revive
its proposed disinvestment of PSUs but with little success.
Earlier this year the government tried to offload a 10-per
cent stake in the profitable engineering goods company
BHEL only to drop the idea as the Left parties had opposed
the plan stridently, even threatening to pull out support
to the UPA government.
The
Left parties' support is crucial for the ruling coalition
to stay in power.
Soon
after assuming office the Congress-led UPA government
formally called-off plans to sell 13 profit-making central
Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) including National Aluminium
Company Limited (NALCO), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation
Limited (HPCL) and Shipping Corporation of India (SCI).
Of
around 240 central PSUs, only 28 are listed and most of
them like NTPC have unlocked higher value after listing.
Several companies like Air-India, Indian Airlines, Bharat
Sanchar Nigam, National Hydro Power Corporation and Power
Finance Corporation require funds for expansion and can
raise the money from the market. In another effort the
government is planning to sell residual equity in PSUs
that were privatised by the earlier National Democratic
Alliance government.
The
Left's stance is not unexpected as CPI(M) chief Prakash
Karat has earlier stated that his party has no problem
with the public offer route to divest minority stake in
companies other than Navratnas.
He
has made it clear that CPI(M) was opposed to the divestment
of Navratna companies but shares could be sold in other
companies to raise resources for social sector.
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