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BIG STORY February 26, 2021 | The Indian Eye 5

>> Continued from previous page... Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairing the 36th PRAGATI meeting in New of public sector undertakings
focus should on people’s wel- Delhi on Wednesday. (ANI Photo) (PSUs) to raise resources and
fare and development schemes exit non-strategic sectors, may
and it has “no business to be in in line with Prime Minister Na- has been given by the govern- bring down the number of such
business”, Prime Minister Nar- rendra Modi’s approach to the ment in this regard so far, but companies to about two dozen
endra Modi on Wednesday said economy and in line with the in another report recently it was from over 300 currently.
the government is going ahead Jan Sangh and Bharatiya Ja- claimed that the government is The Union Cabinet will
with the mantra of “monetise nata Party’s belief that “Indian working on a plan to privatize take a final call on the number
and modernise” and decisions entrepreneurs should be given about half a dozen banks in the of PSUs that will be allowed to
related to asset monetisation maximum opportunity”. country. operate, based on the recom-
and privatisation will help in Her statement comes a day The government wants to mendations by NITI Aayog,
empowering citizens. after the Prime Minister em- start this process of privatiza- The Times of India reported
“The money comes from phasised the private sector’s vi- tion of banks at a time when the quoting government sources.
assets monetisation and priva- tal role in the economy and said country’s major state-run banks As part of the ‘AtmaNirbhar
tisation is being used to build the culture of ‘abusing’ it for are struggling with the NPA Bharat’ package, announced af-
houses for the poor, making votes was no longer acceptable. crisis. However, the situation ter the outbreak of the corona-
roads in villages, opening new The Narendra Modi gov- regarding privatization process virus pandemic, the government
schools, providing clean water ernment at the Centre has ac- is still not completely clear and had said it will classify PSUs
etc. Every decision related to celerated the privatisation pro- the government is constantly into strategic and non-strategic
asset monetisation and privati- cess of at least 4 major state-run discussing in this regard. sectors, and exit from non-stra-
sation will help in empowering banks in the country. The gov- Modi’s speech at the webi- tegic sectors.
citizens whether they belong ernment holds a large stake in nar on Wednesday the imple- Giving details about the pol-
to the middle class or poor or Punjab and Sindh Bank, Bank mentation of the Budget more icy in her Budget speech, Fi-
farmer or labourers,” he added. of Maharashtra, UCO Bank than built upon his strong push nance Minister Nirmala Sitha-
The Prime Minister said and IDBI Bank and now wants for privatisation and private en- raman said the government has
that the Union Budget provides to sell it. The central govern- terprise in Parliament earlier classified atomic energy, space
a clear roadmap to take India ment’s plan is to privatise many this month. It also marked the and defence; transport and tele-
on a high growth trajectory. state-owned banks and fund a hardening of what appeared to communications; power, petro-
Recently, Finance minister big budget by selling stakes in be an opportunistic push war- leum, coal and other minerals;
Nirmala Sitharaman said the some banks. ranted by the pandemic into a and banking, insurance and fi-
government will reach out to all The reason for this is that strong belief, with Modi stress- nancial services as the strategic
stakeholders on privatisation of the government banks are fac- ing that the government has no sectors.
state-owned enterprises to re- ing financial crisis due to the de- business to be in business at all. “In strategic sectors, there
assure that their interests, such crease in tax collection. A letter Rather, he went a step further will be bare minimum presence
as pensions, are safeguarded. was written to the Finance Min- and argued for the elimination of the public sector enterprises.
The finance minister said there istry from the PM office earlier of the government’s role in cit- The remaining CPSEs in the
was a directional shift in the this month, in which these 4 izen’s life being restricted to strategic sector will be priva-
budget in that it recognises that banks in this financial year are only those spheres where it was tised or merged or subsidiarized
government alone cannot be said to complete the process of essential. “Government’s ab- with other CPSEs or closed,” as
the stimulator of the economy privatization. sence should not be felt in areas per the policy. Besides, the cen-
and, therefore, involved the pri- The source said that the pro- where it is needed, but its influ- tral public sector enterprises
vate sector in every major an- cess of privatization of banks ence should not be felt in other (CPSEs) in non-strategic sec-
nouncement. has started and it is being dis- spheres.” tors will also be privatised or
This directional shift in the cussed by the government. Al- The government, which has closed.
budget in terms of policy was though no official information turned its focus to privatisation Continued on next page... >>

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