BPCL stake sale | SCI, Concor to strengthen firms, bring in fresh investments: FICCI

Industry body FICCI on Thursday, November 21, hailed the centre's go-ahead to the sale of its stake BPCL, SCI and Concor stating that the move would strengthen the performance of these companies and bring in fresh investments for both modernisation and expansion. "It is encouraging to see the government take further steps to push the reforms agenda as well as address some of the critical pain points of the industry. The decision to undertake strategic disinvestment and transfer management control in entities like Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Container Corporation of India (Concor) are welcome," Ficci President Sandip Somany said in a statement.

'The roads and highways sector will get a further fillip through this move'

Further, the decision to give greater operational authority to the board of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and enabling it to securitise user fee receipts for raising long-term funds from banks is another major positive, Somany said. "The roads and highways sector will get a further fillip through this move; and given its multiplier impact, we hope to see other related sectors also witnessing improvement in their performance," Somany added.

The decision to set up a unified regulatory body to supervise the activities of financial services providers in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) will add to the ease of doing business for firms that set up a base in IFSC and Ficci welcomes this single window facilitation, he said. Another notable decision of the government is the relief provided to the telecom sector by way of deferment of receipt of spectrum auction instalments due from telecom service providers for the year 2020-21 and 2021-22, the industry body said.

'This move should provide some headroom to the telecom sector in the country'

"This move should provide some headroom to the telecom sector in the country as it is seeing a lot of stress. We must ensure the viability of the sector and Ficci hopes that this is the first step in that direction with more support in the offing from the government," according to Somany. Finally, on the labour code, the industry body noted the approval accorded by the government to the Industrial Relations Code. "This forward movement is noteworthy and we hope that with this move we have moved further ahead on having in place balanced labour regulations in the country that take account of the interest of both the employers and the employees."

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved the sale of government's entire 53.29 per cent stake along with transfer of management control in the country's second-biggest state-owned refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) after removing Numaligarh refinery from its fold. It also approved the sale of the entire government holding of 63.75 per cent in Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) and 30.9 per cent stake in Container Corp of India (Concor).