Union Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said that the Government’s disinvestment target is fully dependent on market conditions. The government has a target to generate Rs 64,000 crore through sale of its shares in Public Sector Undertakings in 2015-16.
“We have a host of companies for disinvestment but we will be careful about the valuations. We have to take into account market volatility. Half year is still left and we will give you the guidance as we progress,” Mr. Sinha told journalists at a conferece organised by FICCI
“The Centre will be prudent while taking disinvestment decisions in PSUs dealing with commodities such as oil as there has been significant volatility in the commodity prices and the market is on a downswing” he added.
IDBI BankOn disinvestment of Government’s stake in IDBI Bank, Mr. Sinha said that the government would consider transforming IDBI Bank in a manner similar to the way it was done with Axis Bank. “The way Axis Bank was privatized is a great template and we will follow the model,” he said.
Mr. Sinha, while answering a question about the forthcoming winter session of Parliament, said that the government would do its best to get the Goods & Services Tax (GST) and Bankruptcy Code Bill passed in both houses in the forthcoming session.
He said the government has been reaching out to the opposition for the smooth functioning of Parliament and passage of important bills.
Earlier, while speaking at the conference, the Minister said that the Modi government has embarked on a transformational initiative to bring in long term growth in the country and usher in structural changes which will yield tangible results in the coming years.
“The Congress had a consumer oriented economic policy with demand side focus. But ours’ is an investment oriented economic policy having a supply side focus. Our economic policy is completely different. We want to build India’s soft assets and have taken up game changing initiatives. But it is taking time to reflect on the ground,” he said.
Union opposesAll India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) has urged the Centre and Prime Minister in particular not to privatise IDBI Bank.
Talking to The Hindu, AIBEA General Secretary C.H. Venkatachalam said that he would ask the Centre to maintain the sanctity of assurance made in the Parliament by the BJP government in 2003 regarding privatisation of IDBI Bank.
IDBI Bank primarily caters to industrial development and suffers from huge accumulated bad loans created by the private corporate sector, Mr. Venkatachalam said.
It is an irony that the government wants to handover the bank to the very same private corporate sector, Mr. Venkatachalam added.
AIBEA has decided that in the event of any formal move by the government to privatise IDBI Bank, it will resort to strike action not only in IDBI Bank, but throughout the banking sector. — N. Anand
