The government's divestment programme is on track and to begin with a small portion of equity in two PSUs -- Power Finance Corporation and National Mineral Development Council -- will be divested, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Wednesday.
Divestment of these two profit-making PSUs has been cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and it would be carried out, he told captains of Indian industry during the customary post-Budget interaction with them.
The Budget 2006-07 has provided for garnering Rs 3,084 crore (Rs 30.84 billion) from divestment, which would be put in National Investment Fund.
However, money collected from divestment would not impact fiscal deficit as it would not go into the
He said the ruling coalition would be guided by the National Common Minimum Programme, which states that no 'Navratna' PSUs would be divested and majority stake in profit-making units should be retained by the government.
The finance minister expected small portion of government equity in 6-8 non-Navratna PSUs to be divested, which could fetch Rs 6,000-7,000 crore (Rs 60-70 billion).
As far as sick PSUs are concerned, government will either close them down or sell them as mentioned in the NCMP, he said.
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