Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has asked major ports to go in for corporatisation and become companies under the Companies Act.
Presenting the Union Budget, he said the private sector had shown that minor ports could be an attractive investment.
“Ports in the public sector need to both attract such investment as well as leverage the huge land resources lying unused with them. To enable us to do so, ports in public sector will be encouraged to corporatise, and become companies under the Companies Act,” he said.
A senior port official said the proposal was mainly aimed at new ports (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust) having fewer employees.
Weighing options“It is a policy decision, and we are weighing the pros and cons. Ours is a logistics port, and we do not have a huge land bank. Moreover, the decision to go for corporatisation has to be examined by the Shipping Ministry,” said a Chennai Port official. The Kamarajar Port is the first corporate port in the country. It is controlled by professionals. Reacting to the budget announcement, a Kamarajar Port official said it had delegated powers to go ahead with new projects with an investment of up to Rs.500 crore and government interference was minimal. “We have standard systems and procedures in place. We have more autonomy and can also raise money from the capital market at a premium.”
