Sunday, April 10, 2016

Resorting to divestment in Public Sector Undertakings [PSUs] to offset budget deficit is not a reform - it's a distress sale

Indian government uses stake sales in government-owned enterprises [PSUs] in order to compensate for the regular budget deficits. This is akin to someone selling a floor of his home in order to service the interest on his bank credit limit. This is not business, it's simply a distress sale. As if this so-called "strategy" weren't already bad enough, packaging and presenting it to the general public as if it is a "reform" is even worse.

A business and a government should sustain itself, and shouldn't have to resort to handing over state property to private owners - at throwaway prices - in order to make up for cash shortfall. Of course, the picture becomes more clear when you introduce the word "heist", which is what is happening in the Indian government. Under the pretext of divestment, the government is basically selling public property to private individuals/corporations and putting cash into the treasury, which is then of-course siphoned out by corrupt ministers/politicians via overpriced tenders, over-invoicing, etc.

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