4 banks shortlisted by government for privatisation; details inside
Nirmala Sitharaman on Budget 2021: In a major development, the Government of India has shortlisted four state-run banks for privatisation, in an order to push to sell state assets and shore up government revenues, the news agency Reuters reported.
The four banks shortlisted for privatisation are Bank of Maharashtra, Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank and the Central Bank of India, the report stated.
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It is pertinent to mention that the matter has not been made public yet. Reportedly, two of those banks will be selected for sale in 2021-2022 financial year which begins in April.
As per the report, the Bank of India has a workforce of about 50,000 while the Central Bank of India has 33,000 staff. Indian Overseas Bank has 26,000 employees while Bank of Maharashtra has about 13,000.
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The move aims at making use of disinvestment proceeds to finance some social sector and developmental programmes.
The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Budget 2021 in Parliament, announced that the government of India has approved a policy of strategic disinvestment of public sector enterprises. The move is expected to provide a clear roadmap for disinvestment in all non-strategic and strategic sectors.
Sitharaman had informed the Parliament that a number of transactions namely BPCL, Air India, Shipping Corporation of India, Container Corporation of India, IDBI Bank, BEML, Pawan Hans, Neelachal Ispat Nigam limited among others are proposed to be completed in 2021-22.
She added that other than IDBI Bank, a proposal of privatisation of two Public Sector Banks and one General Insurance company will be taken up in 2021-22.
-PTC News
