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I am not against divestment of oil PSUs: Naik

Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Ram Naik on Friday reiterated that he was not against divestment of government equity in the oil PSUs and maintained that either of the two routes - public issue or strategic sale - should be finalised by the government after three months.

"I am not against divestment. The policy has been finalised and two options are being currently discussed all over the country. The petroleum ministry has already expressed its intention of reconsideration of the proposed divestment route of the oil PSUs. All of us, George Fernandes and Murli Manohar Joshi are not anti-divestment," Naik told reporters after inaugurating a liquid oil jetty at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai.

The Cabinet Committee on Divestment had last month postponed by three months the divestment of state-run refiners Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum following sharp differences among ministers on the route to be followed. He said several questions were now coming afore on the divestment of oil PSUs like BPCL, HPCL.

"Questions like 'why divest the profit making companies?'; 'aren't we suppose to get rid of only loss making PSUs?'; and 'should oil companies be divested at all?' are being raised," Naik said.

He pointed out that the oil ministry has given Rs 7,217 crore (Rs 72.17 billion) out of the Rs 9,070 crore (Rs 90.70 billion) divestment proceeds garnered by the government since 1998.

"When we have contributed nearly 80 per cent of the total divestment proceeds of the government, how can we be anti-divestment," he countered.

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