New Delhi: Even as the privatisation of three profit-making PSUs is underway, the government is likely to set the ball rolling on the privatisation of three more PSUs — defence PSU Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML), Neelanchal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL), and Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) next, a top official at the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has said. DIPAM recently floated the preliminary information memorandum for the disinvestment of the Centre's stake in Shipping Corporation of India (SCI). The privatisation of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Air India is already underway as the deadline for EoI submission closed recently.
According to sources who spoke to PSU Watch on the condition of anonymity, the Centre plans on selling off 28 percent stake in BEML. Currently, the government holds 54.03 percent stake in the defence PSU. If it offloads 28 percent, the government's share in the company will be reduced to 26 percent. The management control of the company will go to a strategic player. The proposal for the strategic disinvestment of 28 percent share in BEML had received a nod from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in October 2016.
BEML is a mining equipment maker which has diversified into manufacturing of rail coaches and defence production which accounts for almost half of its current topline.
The case of NINL is the most urgent for DIPAM because the financially battered PSU has not been able to pay its employees since February this year and has suspended all operations since March. At a high-level meeting that took place in August this year, DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey was asked to fast-track the privatisation of NINL and wrap up the process as soon as possible. However, it would be difficult for the government to disinvest the PSU at a fair valuation as the plant has shut down operations. The process is already moving at a slow pace as the government has not yet invited EoIs for NINL.
The proposal for the privatisation of CONCOR had received a nod from the Cabinet in 2019. However, the process was put on the back burner in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government is planning to sell 30.8 percent out of its 54.8 percent shareholding in CONCOR, a railway PSU.
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