The Centre will keep looking at opportunities to blend smaller and unsustainable public sector companies to form larger units to make them sustainable but at the same time it is not in a ‘crazy rush’ to sell assets, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said at Raisina Dialogue 2023.
“There is no sector in India which is not available to the private sector to be in and function. And when we say a minimum presence of the government in those core sectors we mean the institutions which are big enough to run on their own steam will be there but if there are others which are very small and unsustainable or not scalable, if there is a possibility we will try to blend them so that a bigger unit, sustainable unit, unit which can on its own take care of its needs, we will blend them and create a larger entity, which can continue to be there,” Sitharaman said.
The Finance Minister said the Centre will continue to have a presence in four strategic sectors, including telecom.
“It’s not a crazy rushing out to sell everything nor is it sitting and saying government will run the business of producing pins to aircraft to everything. So where the government doesn’t have to be, it won’t but where because of strategic interest you have to be, it will be there like telecom for instance. There will be telecom companies which will be government’s and it will be run professionally. So it’s not as if the government is completely selling everything and at the same time it is not also as if it is running all the businesses itself.”
According to the PSE Policy, the four broad strategic sectors are – atomic energy, space and defence; transport and telecommunication; Power, Petroleum, Coal and other minerals; and Banking, Insurance and Financial Services.
