Divestment when time is right: Pranab

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee cleared the air on PSU divestment in an exclusive interview to ET Now, saying that the "appropriate"
time for equity sale had to be carefully chosen and this wasn’t the right time when market sentiments were down.

The minister sought to instil confidence in a spooked market, which nosedived in the absence of the 'D' word in the Budget
speech, by asserting that the government's commitment to divestment has been spelt out in the Economic Survey.

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"There are things that should be done and things that can be done," he said, adding that he couldn't have possibly listed names of companies and how much of their stake would be sold in his budget speech. He added that the promoter holding in all listed companies would have to be reduced to a certain level in order to increase public participation, and PSUs came in that category of companies.

"My primary objective right now is to come back to high growth rate. My target is to touch 7% GDP growth this year and take it to 8% to 9% thereafter," Mukherjee said. "If we are supported by a good monsoon this is more than possible," he added.

"We will have to see how the manufacturing sector does." The minister was confident that the policy initiatives taken in the Budget would put the economy on a high growth trajectory.

"When external trade is in bad shape and revenues are going down, I'm providing stimulus (through extra spending) to pull up growth domestically," he said. He added that between interim Budget and now, the government has increased spending by Rs 60,000 crore - Rs 40,000 crore by the Centre and Rs 20,000 crore by the states.

The FM said, "It will be a domestic demand generated growth. Since the contribution of direct tax to GDP is high, once demand revives and industry is back on a high growth path, we can expect higher revenue." He added, "I have spoken to all states and the industry and sought their contribution. With the help of the states we will be able to roll out GST, a major reforms in indirect taxes on schedule," he said.


Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/