Nov 17: Air India-Bharat Petroleum disinvestment: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman Saturday said that the government is planning to sell state-run airline Air India and the oil marketing PSU Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) by March 2020.
The finance minister stated that the strategic disinvestment of the two state-run companies is critical for the government to meet its disinvestment target of Rs 1 lakh crore for the current fiscal year.
"We are moving on both with the expectation that we can complete them this year. The ground realities will play out," Sitharaman told the Times of India.
The finance minister added that there is a "lot of interest" among investors which is apparent in international roadshows ahead of Air India's sale. The government had to drop the national carrier's stake sale last year owing to investors' lukewarm response. But, it is counting on proceeds from disinvestment (which includes the strategic sale and public offers) to bolster its revenues in a year when tax collections suggest a likely fiscal slippage.
However, the government has been taking a lot of steps to arrest the downturn in the economy which is manifested in a lot of sectors coming out of distress, Sitharaman told the news daily. She further stated that the industry captains had contributed to improving their balance sheets and many of them were also mulling fresh investments.
The finance minister said that she expected GST collections to revive following an improvement in sales in some segments as well as owing to the government's measures to plug leakages lately. Commenting on the Supreme Court's recent verdict on Essar Steel, Sitharaman said that the ruling has strengthened the constitutionality and legal strength of the IBC law and it would have a significant impact on the balance sheets of banks in the next quarter.
She also claimed that there were indications of revival in consumer sentiment, which was exhibited in demand of around Rs 1.8 lakh crore in loans from banks at the outreach programme during the festival season.
"If consumer confidence is not on way to being restored, why would you think that such an amount would have gone out as loans during the two outreach programmes started by banks? And, it is all over the country," the finance minister told the news daily.
The kidnapped schoolboy was rescued by the police and reunited with his parents. Son of a gift shop owner from Basavanagudi area in Bengaluru, Chirag has reportedly told police that decided to make some quick money to spend on cricket betting and gambling after learning kidnap tricks from the ‘Crime Patrol’. According to police, Chirag reached a private school around 3pm on Tuesday on a Bounce rental bike and zeroed in on a fourth standard student who was walking out of school. He told the boy he was his father's friend and that he required help to search for a relative who had gone missing. The boy believed Chirag and rode pillion on the bike. Chirag then engaged the boy in conversation and learnt about his father's business and got his mobile phone number. He then made a call to the boy's father, demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him against approaching cops. However, the boy's father alerted Cottonpet police and special teams were formed to crack the case. While Cottonpet inspector Venkatesh TC's squad verified CCTV footage in and around the school, Chamarajpet inspector BG Kumaraswamy's team started tracking the suspect's mobile phone movements. An hour later, the suspect's location was traced to a hotel on the Lavelle Road-St Mark's Road stretch. Police rushed there, rescued the boy and arrested Chirag.
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We will soon be known as India (Pvt) Ltd Country
Sell entire India to British, they were better than you, Acche din will come soon finally
AB BACHA KYA HAI ...................
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