Andhra Pradesh tops disinvestment list

The Centre's disinvestment programme may have hit a rough patch owing to legal wrangles, but states like Andhra Pradesh and Orissa have performed impressively on the privatisation front.

Several other states, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab and Gujarat, have also got their act together and are expected to close a number of deals during the year.

The Centre has raised Rs 11,260.23 crore, since the sale of Modern Foods in January, 2000. The money has come from the strategic sale of 31 units, including 18 hotels of the India Tourism Development Corporation and three of the Hotel Corporation of India.

There has been no strategic sale this year, though some big-ticket items were lined up for privatisation.

The Centre cleared Larsen and Toubro's Rs 16.20-crore bid for Instrument Control and Valves Ltd in April.

However, the sale is subject to clearance from the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction.

So far, a total of 39 units have been sold in 10 states. Punjab is the only state that follows the Centre's model of a disinvestment commission and a directorate of disinvestment.

In Andhra Pradesh, the disinvestment exercise is carried out by an autonomous body called the Implementation Secretariat.

Karnataka has a disinvestment department and the Gujarat Assembly recently moved a resolution for the establishment of a similar department.

Maharashtra had set up a quasi-judicial body for disinvestment in November, 2000. However, the state is yet to record any divestments and there are no instances of strategic sale.

In Orissa, the department of public enterprises receives technical assistance from the Adam Smith Institute for its selloff moves.

Uttar Pradesh, which has sold just one unit so far, also set up a disinvestment commission in January, 2000.

At the state level, the sales that generated a lot of interest this year were CDC's purchase of a 23.50 per cent stake in Punjab Tractors Ltd for Rs 218.13 crore; the acquisition of a 25.88 per cent stake in Godavari Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd by Coromandel Fertilisers for Rs 102.67 crore in Andhra Pradesh; and the recent Rs 176.41-crore ACC bid for the Orissa government's 86.79 per cent stake in IDCOL.

Andhra Pradesh tops the list of states on the divestment list, having privatised 15 units and sold minority holding in a clutch of listed companies like Voltas, VST, Tata Motors and ACC.

In fact, the state moved on the disinvestment front much before the Centre. Allwyn Nissan was sold to the Mahindras way back in 1989.

Orissa, which has privatised 11 entities till date, is in second place. In 1998, it became the first state in the country to privatise the distribution of electricity.

Even though the first strategic investor ""AES Corporation of the US "" has moved out, four distribution companies still remain in private hands.

Delhi is the only other state where electricity distribution is in private hands. Punjab is currently in the process of privatising power distribution.

Interestingly, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat have all sold off tractor companies. Uttar Pradesh has also called for expressions of interest (EoIs) for a 30-year management lease for 24 of its sugar mills.

Sugar and spinning mills make up the majority of the units disinvested in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.

Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh have sold off three units each, while Karnataka has sold two. Of its three sell-offs, Gujarat has taken the market route in two.

The West Bengal government has also called for EoIs for joint ventures in 10 of its enterprises.