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Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, in a candid chat with Shereen Bhan, spoke extensively on the urgent need for a big divestment push.

“The success of this budget to a great extent is going to be a function of how well we are able to execute public sector disinvestment which has a very high target of Rs 2.1 lakh crore. This budget is essentially about wealth creation and across the board, there is a huge emphasis on the private sector playing a key role from the public-private partnership (PPP) in district hospitals to trains being run by them,” he said.

He further added that Niti Aayog is in the process of making some major recommendations across the board in some key public sector undertakings.

“This should happen within a month or so and we will push very hard on public sector disinvestment. I think that will be really the road to bring productive efficiency in this country,” he said.

On asset monetisation, Kant said that India is a great destination for brownfield asset monetisation projects.

“Other than 150 railway trains, we have pushed very hard on power grid transmission lines, we have pushed very hard on the vast number of national highway roads and also on a number of port terminals. These are projects which have been well executed, they are completely derisked, revenue streams are already coming in, and you will have a huge amount of investors’ interest. We had bid out 6 airports some time back and there was a very good response to that, the next lot of 6 airports will be put up very shortly,” he said.

Answering to the opposition demand of making clear what is strategic and non-strategic, Kant said that other than defence enterprises, all companies are non-strategic, business enterprises. “To my mind, strategic only companies where government security is a major concern, defence undertakings, other than that everything is a business enterprise. They should be put out into the market. The government has made its intention very clear that government is not in the business of running businesses and government must be a facilitator and catalyst,” he said.

First Published:Feb 3, 2020 6:41 PM IST