No more disinvestment in parts -- Jaitley

No more disinvestment in parts -- Jaitley
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU

MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 27: By and large, the Government is not going to be selling off its stake in public sector units in parts, as has been happening in companies like GAIL where the Government has been selling off part of its equity in both the global and domestic capital markets. The emphasis will be on strategic sales as far as possible, since disinvestment in parts lowers the overall value that the Government can get. This was stated today by Disinvestment Minister Arun Jaitley on The Indian Express' website `expressindia.com'.

Apart from answering questions on privatisation, Jaitley said the decision to blacken the interview of Gopal Godse from the Time magazine was not one emanating from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, and that his ministry was collecting information on the incident.

Excerpts from Jaitley's hour-long chat on `expressindia.com':

Sunil Jain: Why is the Government disinvesting in parts all the time? You don't get a good price for this.
Jaitley: The present emphasis is not to disinvest in parts, unless disinvesting in parts is a part of a larger plan. We first determine the roadmap of each PSU, and then decide whether it is to be disinvested at all or not. Once it is decided to disinvest, we select the best method, which protects public interest and also gets the best value.

Sunil Jain: Why did you allow the bailout package for SAIL without disinvestment? A BJP supporter, Jaiprakash of Surya Industry, has pointed out to the FM that we spend close to Rs 750 crore a year on Doordarshan and Rs 400 crore on AIR. Why is it so important to have DD and AIR with the Government?
Jaitley: The decision of the Cabinet was to revive SAIL's profitability and viability before taking any further decision. Doordarshan and AIR are to be developed as public service broadcasters and not merely private commercial broadcasters. The emphasis has to be to make them commercially self-sufficient. Their earnings are improving this year. Till such time that they become self-sufficient, they need budgetary support.

Kalpit Mankikar: Do your socialist Cabinet colleagues support privatisation?
Jaitley: Each Government functions on the basis of the collective decision- making of the Cabinet. Once a decision is taken, each member of the Cabinet is responsible for it. On the issue of disinvestment, administrative ministries have a major role in processing all cases, and in all cases decided so far their active consent and participation has been involved. There have been no two views on the matter

Sajal Gupta: What is the reason for selling profitable PSUs? Is the Government also planning to sell one of the most profitable PSUs i.e. Maruti?
Jaitley: There is no proposal with the Department of Disinvestment with regard to Maruti disinvestment. The rationale behind disinvestment is not dependent upon whether it is making profits or losses. The principal rationale is `must the Government block the taxpayer's money and the national resources in running businesses in the non-strategic areas or should it withdraw these resources from these areas and invest them in areas such as the social sector, that is education, health, irrigation, road building etc, and repayment of public debt while allowing the private sector to invest in the PSUs and run them more efficiently'.

Shantanu Dutta: Recently the Government banned an issue of Time for carrying an interview of Gopal Godse. What was the point when the interview can be read and downloaded from the magazine's website. Does this banning of issues of magazines not represent a somewhat myopic view of the world?
Jaitley: It appears to be a decision taken by one of the Collectors of Customs. The I&B Ministry had nothing to do with it, and we are collecting information in this regard. There is a point in what you say. The advancement made in information technology defy censorship.

Kalpit Mankikar: Do you seeyourself as a successful lawyer or a successful politician?
Jaitley: There is a difference between the two. In courts, you can be successful whether you succeed or fail in cases. But in politics you can't afford too many failures.

Sunil Jain: Will disinvestment cause monopolies to be formed? On IPCL, the Disinvestment Commission said that no monopolies should be created by the sale. Yet the Cabinet dropped this clause. Why not have a proper Competition Commission before you make such sales?
Jaitley: In several countries in the world, disinvestment or privatisation succeeds if it generates competition. It creates difficulties where it creates private monopolies. I believe the Law Minister is already working on an effective competition law in India. The Finance Minister has already informed the Rajya Sabha during the debate in the last session that even in IPC the Government will bear in mind the issue of market domination while taking the final decision.