Speaking at the sidelines of a Ficci seminar "Disinvestment of PSUs: The Road Ahead," he said that the objective of PSU sale is not just to mobilise money for the government but also to make them competitive in the liberalised economy.

Since liberalisation, the government has announced 23 revival packages for PSUs, spending Rs 34,000 crore, Mr Shouries said in his inaugural address.

But nobody knows what happened to that money; perhaps, there were no success stories to report, he added.

He informed the gathering that Reliance vice-chairman Anil Ambani had met him recently and showed his interest in taking over Air India. Mr Ambani's argument is that prior experience in the aviation business should not be a criterion for bidding, the minister said. Mr Ambani said that his group had no experience in the oil business, but they set up a Rs 35,000-crore refinery in record time, Mr Shourie.

The minister lamented that no informed debate has taken place on the issue of divestment. All kinds of claims are being made without the backing of any substantive evidence, he said.

Mr Shourie questioned the assertion that PSUs should not be sold to foreigners. "What is a foreign company?" he asked, adding that this term has to be defined properly.

On the issue of disinvestment, the government policy has evolved, the minister pointed out. "Now, we search for strategic partners, because minority sales do not bring in good revenue for the government." He said that he had had meetings with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Mr Manmohan Singh and central vigilance commissioner N Vittal on the subject of divestment.

A big problem is that the country has a "weak political class." It was the external debt crisis of 1991 "that gave an excuse to the weak political class to liberalise the economy," Mr Shourie said.

Later, disinvestment secretary Pradip Baijal said that in all sectors public perception of PSU shares is very bad. He gave examples from various sectors, and in each of them the share of a properly functioning PSU is quoted much lower than that of private sector companies.

He pointed out that had Modern Foods not been sold to Hindustan Lever, it would have become a BIFR case. By privatisation, the employees have gained, and the government is also likely to gain as the company can be turned around and start paying taxes.

Trai chairman MS Verma said the role of the regulator is to oversee transformation from monopoly to competition. "The elements of competition are in regard to pricing, quality of services and the range of services."

The regulator tries to provide a level-playing field, he said. "The objective of the regulator is the same as that of the government: public good."

Mr Verma gave the analogy of a football match. When the game begins, there may be many fouls, and the referee has to blow the whistle quite frequently. But as it proceeds, and there are fewer fouls, the referee interrupts only when there is a real foul.`Ficci report on aviation sector biased'
Disinvestment minister Arun Shourie took a dig at Ficci, alluding that its report on aviation sector privatisation was not without any bias. The report was the outcome of a seminar on divestment in the aviation sector.

The report had suggested that the foreign player should not get more than 25 per cent in Air India, the chairman should be an Indian, the management control should be under Indians, etc. This report was quoted, often verbatim, by several MPs and the standing committee of Parliament which had expressed its reservation against giving 26 per cent to a foreign company, Mr Shourie said.

The author of this report was Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goel, the disinvestment minister disclosed. While delivering a left-handed compliment to the "power of Ficci," Mr Shourie insisted on some "disclosure norms" for the apex chamber.