During the budget 2021, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced Rs 1.75 lakh crore disinvestment plan. This is a positive move, stated experts during the post-budget webinar session by Emkay Global.
During the session, Shailesh Haribhakti, chairman of the board key companies said, “This is the best budget in the last 25 years. This budget shows that India has the chance to become a global capital for foreign direct investment (FDI).” He is optimistic that India will be able to achieve a lot more with this growth-oriented budget.
In the past, India has failed to achieve its disvestment targets. For FY 2020-2021, the government had set a disinvestment target of Rs 2.10 lakh crore, which it was unable to meet mainly due to the pandemic. “The disvestment target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore in the current fiscal is a lot more realistic compared to last fiscal,” said Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist, Care Ratings. He added from April this year, the government will have to set a divestment target of one public sector undertaking every month.
The government will privatise two public sector banks other than IDBI Bank, one general insurance company, LIC among others.
Commenting on the budget, Shridatta Bhandwaldar, head of equity, Canara Robeco AMC, said, “The government set a process in place for the last five-six years. Now, it has finally made a plan to spend to support the growth.” He also added the government does not have money to spend, but with the right process, the plans of the government will fall in place. Meanwhile, Rahul Pal, CIO — fixed income at Mahindra AMC said the budget is transparent, growth-oriented and also conservative in some way. He added the government has been able to change politics into business.
