Govt plans to raise Rs 3.25 lakh crore through disinvestment in next 5 years

The centre government plans to raise as much as Rs 3.25 lakh crore (US$ 47.4 billion) in coming five years. These funds will be raised by reducing the stakes in large- state owned firms. States will be reduced to up to 40 per cent. This can be considered as country’s biggest privatisation move in more than two decades.

Finance minister Ms Nirmala Sitharaman, in her maiden budget announced that there will be reduction in direct controlling of stakes in some state- run firms and that will depend on case- by- case basis.

This is to target the fiscal deficit and meet the demand. The idea is to open a stable line of state companies to privatisation which will lead to target the annual disinvestment revenue.

In its previous term, the government sold stakes in a host of companies to raise US$ 40.92 billion which was three times that of previous government.

The government has identified several state-owned firms, including explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp, oil refiner Indian Oil Corp, gas transmitter GAIL (India) Ltd, power producers NHPC Ltd and NTPC, miners NMDC Ltd and Coal India, and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.