Secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Thursday (November 16) said listed public sector banks (PSBs) and public sector insurance companies have a $480-billion market capitalisation. He made this reference at the 20th edition of FICCI’s flagship annual Capital Markets Conference — CAPAM 2023.
He added that while there are 12 parent banks in the PSB segment, the public sector insurance sector has seven parent companies. Pandey went on to add that the country has 389 central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), of which 58 are listed, with a market capitalisation of $280 billion.
Seventeen PSUs have been listed since 2017.
As per Pandey, the disinvestment policy is widely misunderstood and therefore needs to be seen in a wider perspective.
"If an enterprise is healthy and kicking, and its wealth is shared through minority stake, that’s disinvestment too, while the government holds majority stake, which is an investment of taxpayer money," he said
"Disinvestment and dividend are contrarian in nature but fiscally need to be put together and see money coming in," he added.
Pandey has long reiterated that his department strikes a fine balance between disinvestment strategy and a consistent dividend policy. "DIPAM handles both disinvestment as well as dividend. In many cases, they are interlinked, and the government is dependent on both for fiscal receipts," he said at an interview to Business Today earlier.
"If we look at our disinvestment policy, it has got two pillars. The first pillar of disinvestment is minority stake sale, which includes IPO, FPO, OFS and buybacks. In an IPO, we take an unlisted company to the market with the intent to not only raise receipts but also to improve corporate governance and accountability. The other pillar, which was opened in 2016 after a long period, is privatisation, which is a much deeper reform. From 2014, we have got about ₹4.17 lakh crore in a matter of nine years as disinvestment receipts," he added.
