Opinion | Selloffs should be selloffs

With less than five months left this fiscal year, the clock is ticking on the government’s disinvestment schedule. So far, it has managed to raise about ₹15,500 crore, barely 15% of the year’s ₹1.05 trillion stake-sale target. To achieve it, a Cabinet panel has earmarked five state-run companies to be put on the block. The goal suddenly seems reachable.

Or is it? Since the offloading involves the sale of controlling stakes, it amounts to privatization—and this remains a scare word for employees fearful of their jobs who might yet throw a spanner in the works. If no-layoff conditions are tagged along with the selloffs, they could prove to be deal-breakers, as seen in the case of Air India, which found no bidders the last time round. This time, the marquee sale on which the Centre’s hopes ride is that of Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), in which it holds a stake of about 53%, worth roughly ₹70,000 crore. The money raised could be higher, depending on the control premium a strategic buyer pays.