BFSI Insight Summit: Privatisation has to be path-dependent, say panelists

Banking was declared a strategic sector by the government under the new privatisation policy, which means the government will only have a limited presence in the sector

Though it is absolutely essential to privatise some public sector banks, we should also be careful that it is not done in a haste, said panellists at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit session ‘Bank Privatisation: Undoing 1969’.

The government’s approach towards privatisation should be path dependent, the panellists said.

“Today, our policy has to be path dependent. This government is very clear and earnest in its desire to privatise banks, but it cannot be a ‘jhatka’ activity,” said KP Krishnan, IEPF chair professor in regulatory economics at the National Council of Applied Economic Research.

Krishnan believes that the attempt, in terms of