The Maharaja and 26 other sick PSUs to finally take a bow

NITI Aayog, tasked with preparing a roadmap for ailing public sector undertakings, has recommended disinvestment of companies such as Air India after they are revived and immediately winding up 26 state-run firms and leasing out several loss-making hotels. Air India, along with Chennai Petroleum, Madras Fertiliser are on the list of companies which have been identified for strategic sale after they are revived, sources said a report in Times of India.

Although other reports say that any plan to revive distressed state-owned companies should not include selling of land and other capital assets of those companies, a high-powered panel under NITI Aayog on revival of sick public sector units (PSUs) is believed to have suggested. According to sources, it has also suggested that financial restructuring should always be the preferred option in any such plan.

The Aayog has been tasked by the government to identify those PSUs in which the Centre can lower its stake and also those where no stake sale can happen as they have become sick. It is also framing a policy for disinvestment and revival of sick state-owned units. The recommendation on no sale of land and capital assets is part of those recommendations.

Officials said the Aayog tentatively identified 26 PSUs that can be revived without the need to sell any asset, out of a list of 65 floundering PSUs as identified by the department of public enterprises. The sick PSU list, made public last year, includes Air India, Fertilizer Corporation of India, Hindustan Shipyard, HMT, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam, Bharat Coking Coal and ITI. Sources, however, did not divulge which of these sick PSUs have been recommended for revival.