According to an analysis by The Hindu of data released by the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), the current NDA government accounts for 58% of all the disinvestment that has taken place since 1991.
Findings:
Disinvestments worth about ₹3.63 lakh crore have taken place since 1991, out of which about ₹2.1 lakh crore came in the last four years alone, with five months still left in this financial year.
The disinvestment done by the current government so far is already almost twice that done by the UPA government over both its terms in power.
Further, the government has set a target of ₹80,000 crore of disinvestments for this financial year, of which it has so far achieved only ₹15,247 crore. If it does manage to meet its target, then the present government’s share in total disinvestment since 1991 will go up to nearly 65%.
Comment:
Most of the disinvestment needs to take place as these are loss-making companies. Also, the government needs revenue to meet its fiscal deficit target.
But the manner of disinvestment in some cases is problematic as seen in the ONGC-HPCL deal.
ONGC bought some ₹36,000 worth of HPCL shares from the government. How is that disinvestment, if ONGC is a government-owned company itself?
Disinvestment basically means when the government is reducing its holdings in effect, directly or indirectly.
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