'Privatisation not the sole focus of govt'

PSUs, as listed firms, need to consider market expectations & interest of other shareholders, says DIPAM secretary

PRIVATISATION of PSUs is taking a back seat as the government delinks disinvestment with the fiscal management process. Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, Tuhin Kanta Pandey speaks with Dipak Mondal and Monika Yadav, giving more clarity on the government stand on privatisation. Excerpts:

Is the government having a rethink on privatisation?

There is no rethink on privatisation. There are ongoing transactions. But what we have changed is we are no longer treating disinvestment as a fiscal tool, where you're using disinvestment proceeds as fiscal resources. Disinvestment is only one of the sources for fiscal resource mobilisation. There are others like dividends (from CPSES) and asset monetisation (some of which comes to the consolidated fund).

So, what we are trying, even resource-wise, is not really to just focus on disinvestment. Disinvestment actually is a strategy that is subsumed into public asset management. And the public asset management should not be driven only by disinvestment. A large number of public sector companies are listed entities and they have to move with the market, market expectation and keep in mind the interest of other shareholders, apart from the government. So, disinvestment alone cannot be a strategy. We have to keep in mind the capex and growth needs of these firms from other shareholders' viewpoint.

So, privatisation is not off the table?