Govt to disinvest 5 PSUs by March end

mumbai: the government on wednesday said it will complete privatisation of at least five more psus, including indian petrochemicals, national fertilisers and disinvest in joint venture maruti udyog in the remaining part of the current fiscal. "in the next few weeks we will complete the process of disinvestment in ipcl, nfl, maruti, jessop and paradeep phosphate, disinvestment secretary pradeep baijal, who is here for signing of agreement for sale of government equity in vsnl to tatas, told reporters. "cabinet committee on disinvestment will meet in delhi tomorrow to consider ppl", he said adding that jessop would be taken up next week. while zuari-ocp combine alone filed the price bid for ppl last week, government would close the financical bids for jessop india on february 15. the government is expected to invite price bids for ipcl by early march to close the deal by end of the fiscal. asked about exclusion of indian oil from bidding for bharat petroelum and hindustan petroleum, baijal said that government would not like the same owner for ibp and the other two oil psus to ensure healthy competition. but the same yardstick could not be applied in case of ipcl, where the issue of monopoly could be tackled by government by tariff mechanism, he said when asked if reliance could be kept out of ipcl privatisation. ioc and reliance are the frontrunners for ipcl and oil psu has asked the government for level playing field on the issue of monopoly.