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Divestment hurdles eased considerably, says Baijal

The government said on Friday that hurdles in the way of divestment had eased considerably, paving the way for the hastening of the privatisation process.

"Hurdles against divestment have been eased considerably in the last few months, and there is no total opposition to the exercise," divestment secretary Pradip Baijal said at the Economic Editors' Conference in New Delhi.

He added that this become evident with the recent privatisation of CMC and HTL.

Asked about opposition to the process from within the government and PSUs, Baijal said that labour unions were against the process because of lingering fears about their future.

He also added that administrative ministries were opposing the move because a number of jobs had to be axed.

"The macro picture has to be taken into account before taking a decision on PSU privatisation," Baijal said, adding that the government had subsidised PSUs to the tune of nearly Rs 210 billion in the last fiscal.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Divestment will meet on October 23 to finalise the draft shareholders agreement to divest government stakes in Hindustan Zinc and ITDC.
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