'Efficient management, tech use by pvt sector to unlock real value of CPSEs being privatised'

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said efficient management and use of the latest technology by the private sector will help unlock the real value of CPSEs undergoing strategic sale and bring much higher dividends for the economy.

She said Niti Aayog had been mandated to identify and recommend CPSEs — which are not in the 'priority sector' — for strategic disinvestment, based on the criteria of national security, sovereign functions at arm's length, and market imperfections and public purpose.

These CPSEs are reckoned as 'low priority' for the government notwithstanding that they may be profit-making companies. "The unlocking of real value through better/ efficient management and use of latest technology by the private sector may bring much higher dividends for the economy as a whole in terms of growth, productivity and employment," Sitharaman said in the Lok Sabha.

She was replying to a question on the objective and reason for which the government proposes to disinvest its stakes in the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), which has been earning profit.

To another query on whether the government is aware of the protests and opposition to the disinvestment decision, the minister said, "Representations have been received from the staff union and officers' association of the company to reconsider the decision. Government intends to proceed with the decision taken by

the CCEA".