PSU stake sale to be hastened, says PM

India will speed up the sale of stakes in state companies to revive the stock market and will push ahead with reforms aimed at spurring investment recovery, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said.

“We will speed up the disinvestment process, which will also revive our equity markets,” Singh said. Selling equity in large public industries is a central plank of the government’s plan to bring down a wide fiscal deficit, a major weakness in the country.

This week, the sale of 10 per cent in NMDC raised $1.1 billion and the government is aiming for Rs 30,000 crore from such partial privatisations by March.