Bank privatisation to happen as per schedule: Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said privatisation of public sector banks (PSBs) will happen as per the government’ schedule, indicating that those may be taken up after general elections in 2024.
“It (privatisation) will go on as per the schedule and there is no change in it,” Sitharaman said while responding to a question on progress of her earlier announcement to privatise two PSBs.
She was speaking at a press conference in Mumbai on the achievements of the Narendra Modi government in the last nine years.
In the Budget for 2021-22, Sitharaman announced the government’s intent to take up the privatisation of two PSBs.
As per the new Public Sector Enterprises (PSE) policy, the government would minimise the number of state-run firms in five strategic sectors, including banking while fully exiting from non-strategic sectors.
The government must either amend or repeal the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Acts of 1970 and 1980, usually called Nationalisation Acts, to remove the hurdle to privatisation. However, the relevant Bills are yet to be introduced in Parliament.