After a month-long tussle with Left that saw the suspension of the UPA-Left coordination meetings, the Government today formally called off its plans to privatise 13 profit-making public sector undertakings (PSUs) through strategic sale of equity.Minister of State for Finance, S S Palanimanickam, in a written reply to Rajya Sabha, stated: ‘‘In keeping with the National Common Minimum Programme guidelines, it has been decided to call off the process of disinvestment through strategic sale of 13 profit-making PSUs.’’Finance Minister P Chidambaram later told The Indian Express that ‘‘this is an old decision taken by the Cabinet’’.These 13 PSUs are National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO), Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), Engineers India Ltd (EIL), Balmer Lawrie, Hindustan Paper Corporation, State Trading Corporation (STC), National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC), Engineering Projects India Ltd, Sponge Iron India Ltd, Manganese Ore India Ltd and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers.Official sources clarified that like BHEL, whose divestment process has been put on hold, these companies can, however, be put up for divestment through public offers. They also added that as on date, BHEL disinvestment is not officially off.Speaking to reporters on the government’s decision, Finance Minister Chidambaram said that strategic sale route was not the ‘‘right option’’. He said: ‘‘We do not think that strategic sale is a transparent method. I believe that strategic sale is no longer the proper approach to adopt. It raises more questions and is not the preferred route.’’As against the earlier government’s strategy of strategic sale, he said that the Government was considering the public offer route to sell minority stakes in PSUs.Chidambaram said that ‘‘this is what is being discussed,’’ and added that the Centre would also consider residual stake sale on a case-to-case basis.
