Cabinet gives in-principle nod for strategic sale of PSUs

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the names of PSUs that are up for strategic stake sale would be made public once they are going to be put up for the auction

New Delhi, Oct 27: The Union Cabinet today gave in- principle approval to Niti Aayog's proposal for strategic sale in over a dozen public sector undertakings (PSUs) including those that are making profits.

Talking to reporters after the Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the names of PSUs that are up for strategic stake sale would be made public once they are going to be put up for the auction. "The recommendations of the NITI Aayog with regard to both disinvestment and strategic sale came up for consideration.

In principle the Cabinet has approved the recommendations with regard to some of the units," the minister said. Each case would be considered separately after it has been examined by the Department of Disinvestment and the ministries concerned, he said.

"So in-principle it has been approved. Specific cases would now come up after a detailed examination as to how it is to be done in each case and the details with regard to the units concerned will be furnished at that stage. This list does not include PSUs for closure," he said.

The strategic sale will involve a management control transfer as the shareholding of the government would come down to below 50 per cent. "Some of these are important units and therefore since each unit would be considered in its own merit, the timing of that would be decided by the government accordingly," he said.

With regard to valuation of these PSUs, he said there are settled valuation processes and a transparent one would be followed.

PTI