FinMin to seek Cabinet nod for setting up company to monetise land assets of privatisation-bound CPSEs

PTI, Oct 17, 2021, 2:07 PM IST

New Delhi: The finance ministry will soon move the Cabinet to seek approval for setting up a company for transfer and subsequent monetization of land and non-core assets of privatization-bound CPSEs, an official said.

A special purpose vehicle (SPV) in the form of a company would be set up to hold these assets which would be monetized to fetch value to the exchequer, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said.

”We are talking about a company which will be there for many years, which will specialize in handling surplus land and non-core asset monetization. We are expecting it shortly. As soon as we get Cabinet approval,” Pandey told PTI.

There are some CPSEs for strategic disinvestment and ”we feel certain portion of land is not really worth going with the company and those assets could be monetized”, he said.

Post Cabinet nod, the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), which is now under the Ministry of Finance, will be entrusted with doing the asset monetization.

The government is targeting to conclude the strategic sale of BPCL, Shipping Corporation of India, IDBI Bank, BEML, Pawan Hans, Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd, this fiscal.

In the 2021-22 Budget, the government announced the PSE (public sector enterprises) privatization policy as per which all PSUs will be privatized, barring four strategic sectors of Atomic energy, Space and Defence; Transport and Telecommunications; Power, Petroleum, Coal and other minerals; and Banking, Insurance, and financial services.

In these strategic sectors, the government will retain only a bare minimum number of PSUs.