New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is going to chair a crucial review meeting on disinvestment this week, where a call will be taken on the names of the two public sector banks that will be privatised, sources aware of the matter who spoke to PSU Watch on the condition of anonymity, said on Monday. The meeting comes as another wave of COVID-19 infections and the possibility of another long-drawn lockdown casts doubts over the government's disinvestment plans. Sources said that this would be a point of discussion at the meeting which is scheduled to take place this week.
One of the sources quoted above said that after a year marred by the COVID-19 pandemic and slow progress on major disinvestment plans, it is crucial for the government to meet its disinvestment target in FY22. However, officials feared that if partial lockdown in certain parts of the country continue or are enforced more severely, it will impact both the market and investor sentiment, thereby making the task of achieving the FY22 disinvestment target a challenge.
For FY22, the government has set for itself a PSU disinvestment target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore. The target is cautious when compared to the Rs 2.1 lakh crore planned for FY21. However, since the government managed to raise only Rs 32,835.45 crore in FY21, the FY22 target has been kept at a level which is achievable, especially considering the uncertainties brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Centre has also stepped on the accelerator as soon as the economy showed signs of improvement by beginning the process of disinvestment of a number of PSUs like Neelanchal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL), Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML), Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), Pawan Hans, among others.
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