PSU divestments on hold, says Chidambaram
13 Dec 2006
Mumbai: The government is unlikely to divest its stake in any of the profitable public sector units in the near future, finance minister P Chidambaram said.
"Some months ago, the prime minister put disinvestment on hold pending more consultations. I do not expect any money to flow into the National Investment Fund (NIF) in the immediate future," he told the Rajya Sabha during question hour.
The
government had, in November lat year, constituted the
NIF for channeling proceeds from disinvestment of equity
in central public sector units. "Till date, no funds
have accrued to NIF," he said.
Of the proceeds accrued to NIF, 75 per cent were to be
used on education, health and employment schemes while
the remaining 25 per cent were to be used for reviving
loss-making PSUs.
"Since
there was no consensus (on divesting profit making PSUs),
the prime minister had put the process on hold,"
he said, adding the government would wait for building
consensus on divesting small portions of equity in profit
making PSUs.
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