09/02/2022
The Finance Ministry on Monday said a decision is yet to be taken on the privatisation of the Public Sector Banks. At the same time, merger of three public sector general insurance companies has been put off.
Junior Minister in the Finance Ministry Dr Bhagwat Karad said in a written reply in Lok Sabha said that as per inputs received from the Department of Investment and Public Assets Management (DIPAM), the government has not yet decided on the banks that are to be privatised. “The amendments to the relevant Acts are required to be done before initiating the process of privatisation,
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech of FY2021-22, had announced that two of the public sector banks would be privatised. She had also announced that a bill will be introduced. However, this bill is yet to be listed for introduction in the Parliament. It seems strong protests from the employee unions and elections in five States have stopped the process.
Meanwhile, Karad said that the government has received representations from the bank unions wherein they have expressed their views and concerns on the matter of privatisation of banks. Further, “DIPAM has informed that the representations with regard to strategic divestment of CPSEs and banks received from various stakeholders including the employee’s unions from time to time are duly examined as per the extant disinvestment policy of the government,”