With an eye to garner big bucks through disinvestments, the government has decided to let go its majority stake in the Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL). The Cabinet Committee On Economic Affairs (CCEA) in its meeting yesterday decided to sell 53% takes in the state-owned Petroleum PSU. The Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) which is a part of BPCL would be taken out of it and would be retained by a government-owned firm.
#Cabinet approves strategic disinvestment of CPSEs.
— PIB India (@PIB_India) November 20, 2019
Details here: https://t.co/D65qDDEJe4
Apart from BPCL, the government has decided to sell off its stakes in Container Corp, of India Ltd (Concor), THDC India Ltd (THDC) and North Eastern Electric Power Corp. Ltd (Neepco). In Container Corporation of India Ltd, the government will sell 30.8% share along with transfer of management control to a strategic buyer
BPCL divestment is a big deal, first such big ticket divestment since the Vajpayee government.
— Aashish Chandorkar (@c_aashish) November 20, 2019
This announcement today has a nice back story. The government has used The Repealing and Amending Act 2016 which annulled 187 redundant laws to sell BPCL. (1/n)
In THDC and Neepco the government has decided to sell a 74.23% with management NTPC Ltd India’s largest power generation company. This sale of assets would be a big step ahead towards the government’s target of generating ₹1.05 trillion from disinvestment.
Shipping Corporation of India(SCI) Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR), THDCIL (Tehri Hydroelectic) will be disinvested. North Eastern Electric Power Corporation India Ltd will also be disinvested.
— Nistula Hebbar (@nistula) November 20, 2019
The sale of stakes comes at a time when the government is pushing hard to revive the economy form its slowness that clocked six-year low in June this year. Recently the decision was taken to open up the fuel retail market by lowering the entry barrier and allowing companies with a net worth of ₹250 crore to set up outlets.
And while BPCL etc will get the headlines, the really BIG one is the new Industrial Relations Code (presuming no sting in fine print). If Modi Govt persists with it despite inevitable outrage from the Unions/Opp, it’ll be its 1st big reform towards manufacturing competitiveness
— Shekhar Gupta (@ShekharGupta) November 20, 2019
The government is keeping an eye on the money-losing firms and is trying to sort things of with mergers and sales. The decision to privatize national carrier Air India, shut down state-owned trading companies and merger of BSNL and MTNL are manifestations of that.
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In the meeting yesterday the request of food ministry to import 120,000 tonnes of onions was also accepted keeping in mind the rising prices of the bulb hitting the kitchen budget.
