Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha during zero hour, Tapan Kumar Sen (CPI-M) said that while presenting the vote-on-account in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has showered praise on the functioning of the CPSEs.
But the Centre wants the profit-making public sector companies to offload their equity in the market at a time when the stocks are in bad shape, he said.
This amounts to "handing over the public sector units to private sector at throwaway prices," he said. Sen, supported by other Left parties, said the CPSEs have several other avenues to raise money for their expansion plans. They can offer bonds and debentures to tap the debt market.
In the midst of sharp erosion in the equity market, investors have more faith in alternative avenues like bonds and debentures, he said.
Raising another issue, senior BJP member Murli Manohar Joshi made a demand for upgrading of the BHU Institute of Technology to the status an IIT.
He said while the Centre has opened new IITs, the recommendation of an expert committee on BHU-IIT has not been fulfilled.