Strategic divestment of public sector undertakings would be a way of life for the government, Divestment Minister Arun Shourie said at the ICICI Securities' Investors conference in Singapore.
Addressing 90 global fund managers and 40 Indian companies at a post-lunch session at the Ritz Carlton, Shourie said the BJP government, if voted back to power, would accelerate the speed of divestment.
He also made it clear that once the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd divestment plan, the privatisation drive of the government would gather momentum.
Impressed with the huge success of the Centre's programme, all states, including Communist-ruled West Bengal, are seeking its advice on divestment, according to Shourie.
After the success of Maurti Udyog's initial public offering in June 2003, the government has taken six public sector undertakings to the capital market over the last fortnight to raise over Rs 14,000 crore (Rs 140 billion).
The divestment minister said almost 75 per cent of the money received in the bidding process of the six PSUs was from foreign institutional investors.
Taking a dig at market pundits on the timing of the offers, Shourie said experts had said the PSUs were being taken to the market at the wrong time, but the offerings turned out to be a phenomenal success.
Shourie was of the opinion that the timing of divestments cannot be based on day-to-day market moods, it was a longer term call based on broader macro-economic parameters.
Lauding the government's privatisation move, Shourie said the privatised entities have posted higher profits and made investments. He referred to Balco in this respect.
The experience of PSUs privatised so far had been extremely heartening, with productivity, output and profitability rising and new investments being made, he said.
He said most impediments to PSU divestments had been addressed and he expected the privatisation programme to gather momentum as there was a consensus on the issue across political ideologies.
