“We will probably see 5-6 privatizations this year probably after 19 years. Not only Air India but BPCL is also in due diligence phase,” Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Tuhin Kanta Pandey said at a summit organized by industry lobby group CII.
He also said that financial bids can be made for government companies like BEML. Shipping Corporation of India, Pawan Hans, Central Electronics, Neelachal Ispat Nigam Further transactions can be done in January and in the current financial year which ends in March.
In October, the government completed the privatization of Air India, which has been in the works for the last 20 years. NS Tata Group The bid was won and the airline, which was nationalized in 1953, is on its way back. “Our entire focus is on how to hand over at the earliest. We are trying to target it by December,” Pandey said. He said that all the approvals have been received.
The DIPAM secretary also said that the government is working hard for listing of public sector insurance company LIC and its plan is for the fourth quarter. “It’s a big financial institution that has remained so far away from the markets… again for capital markets, it’s going to be a huge event in the first quarter of next year, I mean the last quarter of this fiscal year,” Pandey said.
Speaking in the same panel discussion, the Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) Ajay Seth Said economic growth has to come from a good cycle of private investment in which the private sector has a major economic role, while the government’s role will be that of a facilitator.
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