Government plans to monetise assets of public sector enterprises

The government is working on a plan to make good use of land banks of state run companies, since it wants to monetise the assets belonging to public sector enterprises.

The government will be looking at all central public sector companies (CPSEs), which includes profit-making firms, and would decide if the resources belonging to them can be used for boosting the economic growth, a senior government official told ET. "We will come out with a detailed plan which will include the land banks available with these firms." Saying that the government will initially focus on loss-making enterprises, the official said that land belonging to units that are being closed will be sold or transferred.

This move has come after the government successfully asked five state-run firms to announce a buyback of their shares, which is expected to draw Rs 12,000 crore to the exchequer.

There are 74 loss-making companies, out of which 26 have been identified by NITI Aayog either for closure or winding up.

Their land might be offered to state governments, other CPSEs or public sector banks.

However, if the land is on lease from the state government, it will be duly returned as per the conditions of the lease papers.

It was during in his budget speech that finance minister Arun Jaitley had stressed on the need of using CPSE assets so that resources can be generated for further investments.

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