Govt plans yet another divestment panel -- FM

Govt plans yet another divestment panel -- FM
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 13: Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha on Monday said that the Government would soon issue a notification for reconstituting the Disinvestment Commission whose term expired on November 30 last, adding that the process of setting up the disinvestment fund was on.

Replying to a short duration discussion on disinvestment policy in Rajya Sabha on Monday, Sinha also asserted that the government would go ahead with the process of disinvestment up to 74 per cent of its equity in the public sector units through a transparent mechanism.

Allaying fears of some members that the Commission had been wound up with the creation of the department of disinvestment, he said this department would be the nodal agency to deal with various industries which were covered by various departments and ministries.

On the disinvestment fund, the minister said that the government was in the process of setting up the fund with 10% of equity sale proceeds. Taking strong exception to the remark of CPI leader GurudasDasgupta likening the disinvestment process to selling family jewellery to the grocer, a hurt FM asked, "who is this grocer?" and stressed it could not be separated from the budget process.

The minister added that there was no confusion and ambiguity in terms of disinvestment philosophy. The process of disinvestment was not to sell cheap equity but to get the best price and in the most transparent form, he said. Nobody in the world could predict the best timing for offloading equity, the finance minister said.