Plan Comm for strategic sale in sick PSUs

NEW DELHI: The Planning Commission has pitched for strategic sale in sick PSUs to help them find a partner for revival. “We have always said let’s have a strategic sale rather than yet another restructuring ... most of the time these companies say that if you help us revive, you will get more money,” Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said at a SCOPE function.

“But if you don’t get strategic sale, why do you think it will revive....that keeps delaying the decision,” he added. At present, over 20 state-owned companies, including Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation, Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Nagaland Pulp and Paper Company, are chronically sick.