FinMin working on new procedure for strategic sale of CPSEs

New Delhi: The finance ministry is reworking strategic sale procedure to ensure outright sale of CPSEs within 4 months of issuance of documents to potential investors, a move aimed at ensuring speedier conclusion of the entire process, an official said.

However, for CPSEs like Air India, which are relatively bigger in size, the timeline for completion of strategic sale is likely to be fixed at 6 months from the date of issuance of Preliminary Information Memorandum (PIM) about the company.

Currently, there is no set timeline for concluding strategic sale of a state-owned company and the entire process, in some cases, drags on for months, if not years.

"The strategic sale policy is already in place, but the procedure needs to be streamlined so that the sale process is completed within 3-4 months' time.

The thinking is that if a process cannot be completed in 4 months then it should be abandoned," an official said.

Facing a daunting task of meeting the Rs 90,000-crore disinvestment target in the current fiscal, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) will focus on outright sale of selected CPSEs, which have been pending for long.

NITI Aayog has already identified 35 profitable and loss-making CPSEs which can go in for strategic sale. "The procedure would be drafted in a way such that the process can go on simultaneously for more than one CPSE.

For bigger CPSEs, the timeline for completion of sale could be extended till about 6 months," the official added.

The companies which have been shortlisted for strategic sale include Air India, Air India subsidiary AIATSL, BEML, Scooters India, Bharat Pumps Compressors, and Bhadrawati, Salem and Durgapur units of steel major SAIL.

The other CPSEs for which approvals are in place for outright sale include Hindustan Fluorocarbon, Hindustan Newsprint, HLL Life Care, Central Electronics, Bridge & Roof India, Nagarnar Steel plant of NMDC and units of Cement Corporation of India and ITDC.

The process for strategic sale of many state-owned companies started back in late 2017 or early 2018 but the transactions could not be concluded.