{"id":21805,"date":"2026-06-15T18:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T12:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/arvind-panagariya-seeks-for-dedicated-privatisation-ministry-says-govt-should-revive-psu-bank-disinvestment\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T18:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T12:58:09","slug":"arvind-panagariya-seeks-for-dedicated-privatisation-ministry-says-govt-should-revive-psu-bank-disinvestment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/arvind-panagariya-seeks-for-dedicated-privatisation-ministry-says-govt-should-revive-psu-bank-disinvestment\/","title":{"rendered":"Arvind Panagariya seeks for dedicated privatisation ministry; says govt should revive PSU, bank disinvestment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-131741869,imgsize-795323,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/-.jpg\" alt=\"Arvind Panagariya seeks for dedicated privatisation ministry; says govt should revive PSU, bank disinvestment\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Former <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/niti-aayog\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Niti Aayog<\/a> vice chairman Arvind Panagariya has called for reviving the government&#8217;s privatisation agenda for public sector undertakings (PSUs) and public sector banks (PSBs), arguing that disinvestment remains a key pillar of India&#8217;s economic reforms.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"4\"\/>In an interview with PTI, Panagariya also advocated the creation of an independent privatisation ministry to accelerate the government&#8217;s disinvestment programme.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"7\"\/>&#8220;I firmly believe that, regardless of fiscal pressures, the privatisation of PSUs and most public sector banks is integral to our economic reforms,&#8221; he said.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"9\"\/>&#8220;Modernisation of the economy as a part of our India@2047 movement, we need to resuscitate the PSU and PSB privatisation,&#8221; he added.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"13\"\/>Panagariya said aggressive PSU and bank privatisation should continue irrespective of the West Asia crisis and broader geopolitical uncertainties.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"15\"\/>Under Panagariya&#8217;s tenure as Niti Aayog vice chairman, the government&#8217;s privatisation programme was launched in 2016.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"17\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h2>FDI remains strong despite capital outflows<br \/><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"19\"\/>Addressing concerns over capital outflows despite India&#8217;s relatively strong growth rates, Panagariya said gross foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows continue to reflect investor confidence in the Indian economy.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"22\"\/>He noted that gross FDI rose from $71.3 billion in FY24 to $80.6 billion in FY25 and further to $94.5 billion in FY26.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"24\"\/>&#8220;Clearly, foreign investors continue to see the long-run productivity of investments in India very positively,&#8221; said Panagariya, who is currently a professor of economics at Columbia University and chairman of the 16th Finance Commission.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"26\"\/>He explained that a significant portion of gross FDI comes through private equity investments, which naturally see exits when companies go public.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"29\"\/>&#8220;A large part of gross FDI into India has come in the form of private equity. At some point, these investors decide to exit these investments. Typically, this happens when the privately-owned firm goes public through an IPO. In the past two years, IPO activity in India has accelerated, leading to more-than-usual exits by private-equity investors,&#8221; he said.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"31\"\/>Panagariya also pointed to rising overseas investments by Indian companies.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"34\"\/>&#8220;If this is a short-term phenomenon, we have nothing to worry about regarding outflows. If it is a long-term trend, it is an excellent development. For it indicates that Indian firms are reaching a high degree of maturity as they are spreading their wings abroad,&#8221; he said.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"36\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h2>Rupee correction, exports and inflation outlook<br \/><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"38\"\/>Panagariya said foreign portfolio investment (FPI) outflows had also contributed to capital leaving the country over the last two years.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"40\"\/>&#8220;By all accounts, Indian equities had become overvalued, which accelerated the exit. <!-- -->But now a valuation correction has happened,&#8221; he said.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"44\"\/>&#8220;Therefore, I expect this source of outflows to calm down in FY27,&#8221; he added.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"46\"\/>On the rupee, Panagariya said it would be reasonable to conclude that the currency is no longer significantly overvalued after recent depreciation.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"48\"\/>&#8220;I think we have now turned a corner by letting rupee depreciation accelerate,&#8221; the former Niti Aayog vice chairman said.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"50\"\/>He also reiterated that he hopes the RBI &#8220;will not fall into the psychological trap of refusing to let the rupee cross the Rs 100-per-dollar mark for too long&#8221;.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"53\"\/>Citing the impact of an overvalued rupee on exports, he noted that India&#8217;s merchandise exports fell from $310 billion in 2011-12 to $260 billion in 2015-16 and recovered to $320 billion in 2019-20.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"55\"\/>On concerns over below-average monsoon forecasts and inflation, Panagariya said India&#8217;s dependence on rainfall has declined over time.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"57\"\/>&#8220;Our water reservoirs are in good shape, and, based on the increase in the area sown over last year, farmers seem to have taken a generally optimistic view of the situation. Our buffer stock is also robust,&#8221; he said.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"59\"\/>&#8220;I do not see a compelling reason to be concerned on this account,&#8221; Panagariya added.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"61\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/business\/india-business\/arvind-panagariya-seeks-for-dedicated-privatisation-ministry-says-govt-should-revive-psu-bank-disinvestment\/articleshow\/131741848.cms\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Niti Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya has called for reviving the government&#8217;s privatisation agenda for public sector undertakings (PSUs) and public sector banks (PSBs), arguing that disinvestment remains a key pillar of India&#8217;s economic reforms.In an interview with PTI, Panagariya also advocated the creation of an independent privatisation ministry to accelerate the government&#8217;s disinvestment [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}