Improve governance before divesting

A fixation on the target amount, without improving the corporate governance of public sector enterprises, is misplaced

It is not easy to disconnect oneself from the past and get rid of the old baggage. For decades now, there has been a realisation that there is no case for public sector enterprises (PSEs) to be present in many of the sectors of the economy and that they need to exit. However, for them to gracefully exit from commercial operations has proven to be the proverbial “easier said than done”.

The Government of India’s (GoI’s) efforts towards divestment and privatisation of PSEs are well documented, and have often been critically commented on in the media and other literature. Whether