Union Government has decided to privatize the few public sector banks and Insurance companies in India. The logic given for this is ”Disinvestment”. Government has sent a clear message that regardless of your performance and professionalism, we shall divest (or disown).
By 1991 when the country embarked on the policies of liberalization, privatisation became a natural credo. Selling off unviable PSUs and phasing out those from areas where the private sector can provide better and cheaper goods and services was imperative. Governments since then have sold several units either fully or partially.
Confronted with an unprecedented fiscal deficit and worried by an economy in crisis, the government has to find resources. Disinvestment is a preferred option for ideological and practical reasons.
Also Read – Employees Will be Shifted to Other PSB Before Privatization
But when a sterling company like Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) is also being offered for ‘strategic disinvestment’ along with Shipping Corporation of India and Container Corporation of India, the nation naturally expects to know the strategy behind it. A few more PSUs have been selected by the government where its shareholding will be brought to less than 51 per cent.
The divestment of a loss-making PSU of course sends out a message. But when a Navratna company is being offered to the private sector,
What is the lesson to be learnt?
It conveys clearly that regardless of your performance and professionalism, we shall divest (or disown). And should the government not make honest efforts to find out why some PSUs have been wilting, and how successful PSUs are being managed?
The privatization of the Public Sector depends on the transparency of the process and the effectiveness of the regulators.
