NEW DELHI, NOV 18: Unmindful of the scathing attack the Congress and some of its own allies are planning on its privatisation policies in Parliament, the BJP-led Government today pushed forward with its aggressive sell-off plans. A fully-prepared Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie, backed by Prime Minister Vajpayee, today managed to convince a reluctant Industry Minister Manohar Joshi to agree to sell off the Government's under-50 per cent stake in auto-leader Maruti Udyog.The two-hour Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment meeting was, expectedly, a stormy one, and the political establishment was smart enough to keep the bureaucrats out of the meeting. Industry Minister Joshi, whose reluctance to sell Maruti resulted in cancelling the CCD meeting the last time around (and for two months before that), is understood to have asked for more time at today's meeting as well. But, to buttress his case, the Disinvestment Minister even took letters from Maruti's vendors which said that selling off the Government's stake would be a good thing for the company.While Telecom Minister Ram Vilas Paswan managed to get the Government to drop MTNL and VSNL from the list of PSUs which were shortlisted for selling off today, the next CCD meeting will take these up - this meeting will take place after the forthcoming Parliament session comes to an end in the third week of December. Shourie has already indicated that the Government hopes to be able to conclude the sale of both Air India and Indian Airlines by March - these PSUs were cleared for sell off in an earlier CCD meeting.The CCD today decided to change its plans mid-course in the sale of IPCL. While the petrochemicals major was to be sold off as one company earlier, the Government decided to sell its Vadodra plant to Indian Oil Corporation - IOC was very keen to buy this, as it is next to its Gujarat refinery, and is a big user of IOC feedstock. Now, bids will be invited again for the other two IPCL units - Maharashtra Gas Cracker Complex at Nagothane and the Gandhar Petrochemical Complex.A 3-member committee of secretaries - expenditure, disinvestment and heavy industries - will now hold discussions with Suzuki Motors of Japan to finalise the best way to sell off the Maruti stake, to achieve the optimal value. It will submit its report within a fortnight. Under the agreement that the Government has with Suzuki, no partner can sell its stake without the concurrence of the other partner. The appointment of a 3-member committee, however, ensures that the decision to sell the Maruti stake is now firmly out of political hands.The final sale of the government stake in Maruti could take a while as Suzuki is expected to oppose selling the stake to any other auto firm - General Motors of the US and Bajaj Auto of India - the two names doing the rounds for this stake.From Suzuki's point of view, if any other company acquires an equal stake in Maruti, this could slow down its functioning. In that event, the Government is considering selling off its stake either to Indian financial institutions (FIs), or to the general public. While politically more palatable than selling the stake to say, either Suzuki or General Motors, this however is fraught with danger. Selling shares to FIs or the general public will allow Suzuki to get full control of Maruti - it already has under-50 per cent shares - without spending a single rupee.The Government today also decided to sell 74 per cent of its stake in Paradeep Phophates Ltd (PPL) through a strategic sale. The company will be restructured before its sale, but both processes will take place simultaneously.In order to ensure faster privatisation, it was decided today that the Cabinet Secretary will now monitor the progress of each public sector unit that has been cleared for sale, and will co-ordinate with the secretaries of various ministries that are administratively in charge of the PSU.
