The Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD), which will meet on July 4, is expected to draw a blueprint for accelerating the disinvestment process.
The department of disinvestment (DoD) has already identified areas where the time taken can be cut thereby expediting the sale of government equity in public sector units.
A list of these proposals, mainly on slashing the time spent on procedural issues, is being sent to the CCD. Hastening the privatisation process assumes significance given the huge disinvestment target of Rs 16,000 crore per annum set in the draft approach paper to the Tenth Five Year Plan.
"The slow pace of disinvestment is not only on account of opposition from administrative ministries, but also due to procedural delays. Meetings require coordination between officials from various ministries. Finding a time when all of them are free to attend is also a problem," say DoD officials.
One of the proposals which the DoD is placing before CCD states that the government could allow each ministry to clear the files individually rather than wait for the inter-ministerial group (IMG) meetings to clear regular issues. "Clearing files by rotation rather than waiting for meetings which have to be attended by all members of the IMG would save a lot of time," say officials.
At the meeting held between the Planning Commission and the Finance Ministry to finalise the Tenth plan approach paper, disinvestment minister Arun Shourie had pointed out that given the pace of disinvestment in the country, the possibility of raising anywhere near Rs 16,000 crore every year looked remote.
Merely hiving off Balmer Lawrie from IBP Limited took eight months and the progress on Hotel Corporation of India (HCI) disinvestment has been negligible despite assurances from the Civil Aviation Secretary that he would ensure expeditious finalisation of the sale around three months ago, Shourie is reported to have pointed out.
In addition to the above, the CCD will discuss the comprehensive guidelines on tainted companies as well as advisors participating in the disinvestment process.
The shareholders agreements for Air India, Computer Maintenance Corporation (CMC) and Hindustan Teleprinters Limited (HTL) will also be approved. The government will invite final price bids for these companies only after the finalisation of the draft shareholders agreement by CCD.
