Bhasin questions objection to profit-making PSU sell-off

NEW DELHI: The objection to the privatisation of profit-making PSUs is specious, said Supreme Court advocate Lalit Bhasin. Reacting to Left and TU objections to the proposal by Praful Patel to disinvest up to 49% in airports, he questioned the contention that there should be no private participation in profit making PSUs.
According to Bhasin, the acid test of whether or not a PSU is profit-making should be judged by whether their surpluses arise from rentals or just plain operational efficiency. The yardsticks would then be adequacy of profit and revenues generated if run efficiently.
The Airports Authority of India, on the other hand, cannot run up losses owing to its very high generation of rentals and the (much lower) nature of its annual outlays. Bhasin urged a study to gauge the true potential of AAI in terms of the standard, and quantum of profit that it should be producing. It should not be treated as ‘profit-making’ should it fall short of that ideal.