Privatisation of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) is not in national interest and the Tamil Nadu government would oppose the Union government’s bid to privatise PSUs which are public assets, Chief Minister MK Stalin informed in the state Assembly on Thursday, September 2. The PSUs of India are public assets that are designed to nurture economic growth and provide job opportunities and these are also the bedrock of small and micro enterprises, Stalin said. "It is our view that selling or leasing PSUs is not in national interest," he said.
The public sector units functioned considering larger public good and welfare and an objective of profit alone is not the goal of such enterprises, he added. The Chief Minister said he would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to express his government's opposition to the Union government following a trend towards privatisation of PSUs, he said. Prime Minister Narenda Modi had in February said that the "government has no business to be in business." Barring four strategic areas, the Union government had said that it was for privatisation of PSUs in all the other sectors.
During the 2021-22 Budget session, PM Modi said that the Union government is planning high financial growth for India. “As the aim right now is to use public money judiciously, we will have to reform the policies that proved profitable in the past.”
“Private sectors are sure to modernise the workings, mindset and system that has been in place for so long. All this will increase efficiency. From the profit earned through privatisation, the government can divert it into the welfare of rural communities such as supplying drinking water and cheap housing to rural India,” the PM added during a webinar conducted on privatisation by the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) in February.