New Delhi, Oct 4 : The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) on Wednesday asked the government to set a disinvestment target of Rs 50,000 crore annually by shortening the sell-off process to three years.In its report `Strategising second generation fiscal reforms', the chamber said the central public sector undertakings (PSUs) have an estimated capital employed of over Rs 2.5 lakh crore.
But their market valuations are much higher, the report said, citing AF Ferguson's Rs 2.5 lakh crore valuation of Department of Telecom Services (DTS).
The government should, thus, set out to achieve disinvestment of over Rs 50,000 crore a year in the initial periods, the report said.
"The present slow pace of privatisation and sell-off cannot yield substantial results," it said. Assocham suggested that the present process should be shortened and a 3-year time frame for sell-off should be spelt out. Since 1991, only Rs 19,409 crore have been raised through PSU disinvestment as against a target of Rs 44,300 crore, it said.
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