A post is being shared on social media claiming it is a list of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) that are completely privatised under the Narendra Modi-led BJP government. This post claims that PSUs like BPCL, SAIL, HP, OEF, Coal India and AAI are privatised completely under the Narendra Modi government. Also, the post claims that the Narendra Modi government is planning to sell the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and prominent educational institutions like IIT, IIM and ICSE. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: List of PSUs (CPSEs) that are completely privatised and going to be sold by the Narendra Modi government.
Fact: Apart from Air India and North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited companies, no other public sector enterprise was fully privatised by the Narendra Modi government. The central government still holds a majority stake in state-owned enterprises like BPCL, Coal India, HPCL and others. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
The Government introduced the ‘Disinvestment Policy’ with an objective to reduce the fiscal deficit, improve public finances and promote people’s ownership of CPSEs and thereby introducing competition and market discipline for improving the efficiency of these public sector enterprises. The information related to the government disinvestments in CPSEs is available on the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) and ‘Bombay Stock Exchange PSU’ (BSEPSU) websites. There are primarily three different approaches that the central government follows for disinvestments. They are minority disinvestments, majority disinvestments and complete disinvestment or privatisation. Complete details regarding these disinvestment approaches can be read in a detailed article published by Factly on ‘disinvestment’.
On searching for the details of the recent and past disinvestments in the CPSEs listed above in the post, we found the details of government disinvestments in these public sector enterprises on the BSEPSU website. According to the information provided on this website, it is clear that apart from Air India and North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited, the Narendra Modi government did not sell its entire stake in any of the other public sector enterprises. In 1991, the Congress government sold minority stakes in public enterprises like BPCL, Coal India, HPCL and a few other companies. The central government currently owns 66.2% stakes in BPCL, 65% in Steel Authority of India (SAIL), 54.9% in HPCL, 63.17% in BHEL, 49% in Bharat Aluminum Corporation Limited (BALCO) and 72.33% in Coal India. In the 2022-23 fiscal year, no further disinvestment has taken place in these CPSEs.
No disinvestment has taken place in BPCL and BALCO public enterprises after Narendra Modi took over as the PM. While it is true that many railway stations and airports in the country are planned to be privatised, there is no truth in the statement that the Center has sold its stake in BSNL and the Airport Authority of India (AAI). On 16 June 2021, the government announced the privatisation of the Indian Ordnance Factory, a family of 41 Ordnance factories including the Ordnance Equipment Factory. Accordingly, the Government of India has decided to transfer the management, control, operations and maintenance of these 41 production units to 7 PSU companies that are wholly owned by the Government of India.
In order to enhance the diffusion of space technology and boost the space economy within the country, in 2021, the Department of Space (DOS) announced the opening up of the Indian Space sector to private industries. But there is no truth in the allegation that the central government is going to divest ISRO. Also, the GOI did not announce the plans for disinvestment in IIT, IIM and ICSE institutions. ISRO and all these educational institutions are not listed in the EOIs-In Pipeline mentioned in the Strategic Disinvestment & Privatisation section on the DIPAM website.
To sum it up, apart from Air India, no other public sector enterprise mentioned in the list was completely privatised by the Narendra Modi government.
