ECONOMY

Much of the PSUs headed for privatisation were actually built by private sector: Sanjeev Sanyal

Principal Economic Adviser Sanjeev Sanyal on Saturday defended the government’s privatisation policy and said that most of the public sector undertakings (PSUs) that the government intended to sell were actually created by the private sector.


Mr Sanyal stressed that this government was unapologetic about privatisation and added: “You (Opposition) made the point that this (PSUs) has been built through the blood and sweat of the public sector. So, let me put the record straight on this: Actually much of what we are attempting to privatise were actually built by the private sector.” Citing an example, he said that Air India was simply taken away from the private sector and nationalised in 1953. 


“In 1969, banks were simply taken away and nationalised. So, when people say that these institutions were built by the blood and sweat of the Indian bureaucracy, let me point out to you that these things were originally built by private companies,” Mr Sanyal said at a media conclave today.


He said that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had already outlined strategic and non-strategic sectors for the purpose of privatisation, and there would be bare minimum presence of the government in the strategic sector. Mr Sanyal also added that the government would not shy away from creating new public sector entities wherever required. 


Giving an example of the setting up of a development finance institution (DFI), he said that the government recently created the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) to fund the huge infrastructure requirement. Talking about the banking sector, he said that it was a part of the strategic sector, and the government would have its presence in the sector.

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