Opinion | How to set the sell-off ball rolling once again

The government is reportedly drawing up plans to sell its stake in several state-run companies as part of its disinvestment programme for this financial year. A clutch of companies has been identified for the sale of minority stakes, and a list of companies for strategic disinvestment—where the government hopes to reduce its ownership to a minority holding—has also been sent to the Prime Minister’s Office for approval. Now that half this financial year is almost over, the urgency to fast-track these sales couldn’t have been any higher. Of the ₹1.05 trillion disinvestment target set for 2019-20, only ₹12,357 crore, or 12%, has been raised so far. Of course, the government could always engineer a last-minute rescue, by having one state-run company buy the stake of another—like the ONGC-HPCL deal last year—or by having Life Insurance Corporation subscribe to share offerings, but such a strategy could erode the agenda’s credibility.