Unfazed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayees diatribe against the anti-disinvestment lobby in the government, petroleum minister Ram Naik here today reiterated his preference for a public offer over strategic sale of the shares of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL).
He also indicated that disinvestment in the two oil public sector undertakings should be deferred by two years to enable them to make alternative infrastructure-sharing arrangements.
Naiks comments came a day after an angry Prime Minister yesterday lashed out against the opponents of the disinvestment policy in the government asserting that disinvestment would not be halted because of the differences among his Cabinet colleagues over the issue.
The petroleum minister clarified that he was not opposed to the disinvestment policy.
"In fact, in the past three years the total revenue from disinvestment in public sector undertakings has been Rs 9,000 crore of which disinvestment in oil public sector undertakings accounted for Rs 7,000 crore, or 80 per cent of the total disinvestment proceeds. What kind of arithmetic makes me an opponent of disinvestment," he asked.
Asked if Vajpayees speech was a snub to him, Naik said the Prime Minister had only authentically indicated what the disinvestment policy of the government was "and this policy is in operation".
"To me, he reiterated the policy of disinvestment. We are following this policy," the minister said.
He denied the allegation that he was trying to delay the disinvestment process.
"There is no question of delay. We have to take stock of the situation. A mid-term review of the policy has been suggested by National Democratic Alliance (NDA) convenor George Fernandes. I am sure, this will help put the disinvestment process in proper perspective."
Naik said even the Prime Minister had said there should be a debate over the issue and he had given three months for this before taking a final decision on it.
"This debate is going on and I feel it is desirable that the Cabinet also discussed it before reaching a conclusion," he said.
Elaborating on the reasons for his opposition to the strategic sale in the two oil public sector undertakings, Naik said the country needed an assured supply of hydrocarbon fuels.
Past experience with private oil companies in this regard was not a happy one, he added.
Moreover, he said at the time of the nationalisation of Burma Shell, Caltex and Esso, which were subsequently converted into BPCL, HPCL and IBP, the total equity of three companies was only Rs 43 crore. Now the asset value of each company was around Rs 20-25,000 crore.
The benefits of this should be shared with the people rather than giving these to only one company through strategic sale.
Naik said the government wanted these assets to increase. However, he saw a bleak possibility of asset additionality in case strategic disinvestment was resorted to in the oil public sector undertakings.
Asked why he did not think of the public offer route at the time of disinvestment in IBP, Naik said he was wiser from the past experience.
