New Delhi: In the interim Budget 2024-25, the government has set itself a disinvestment target of Rs 50,000 crore for FY2024-25. The government has also revised its estimate for disinvestment for the ongoing fiscal to Rs 30,000 crore from Rs 51,000 crore earlier.

Budget 2024: Lower disinvestment target suggests change in strategy, says NSE chief

The lower divestment target at Rs 50,000 crore suggests a "change in strategy" for the government, wherein it wants to sell a company at the right price and not undertake a distress sale, largest equity bourse NSE Chief Executive Ashish Chauhan said.

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He said simultaneously, the government is working to strengthen public sector undertakings as we have seen in the recent past.

"They (government) want to ensure that they realise the best price going forward from those PSUs in a reasonable time horizon rather than a distress sale. So, in general the strategy seems to have changed," Chauhan, who is also the managing director of the exchange, said.

Govt has missed its disinvestment targets for last few years

Except for FY18 and FY19, the Centre's disinvestment receipts have always been lower than the Budget estimates for the last eight years. For FY24, too, the government has missed budget estimates as the IDBI Bank Ltd stake sale did not take off.

The disinvestment of Pawan Hans Ltd, BPCL and Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) were also shelved. The government's disinvestment yields have primarily come from the offers for sale of Coal India Ltd, NHPC and Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd.

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