Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the government has no business to be in business and his administration is committed to privatising all PSUs barring the bare minimum in four strategic sectors.
“It is government’s duty to support enterprises and businesses. But it is not essential that it should own and run enterprises,” he said. Modi also said the Centre’s policy is to either monetise or modernise public sector enterprises, with the intent that the government has “no business to be in business”.
Speaking at a webinar on privatisation by the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), Modi said the Budget has given a clear roadmap to take India to a high growth trajectory. Fiscal support to sick PSUs puts burden on the economy and public sector units should not be run just because of legacy, the Prime Minister said, adding many PSUs are loss-making and supported by taxpayers’ money. The government has many underutilised and untilised assets and 100 assets would be monetised to garner Rs 2.5 lakh crore, Modi added.