ABSTRACT
Post independence, the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru envisaged the role of government companies was to scale the commanding heights of the economy.
The Statement on Industrial Policy, 1991 liberalised the economy by abolishing licensing but for a handful of industries, reduced the list of 18 industries that were exclusively reserved for the public sector to eight, and introduced a host of other measures including divestiture of 20% equity in Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs). A fundamental change in the government policy on the public sector was made with the announcement of the New Public Sector Enterprise Policy for Atmanirbhar Bharat: 2021.The commercial enterprises were classified into strategic and non-strategic sectors. There would be bare minimum presence in the four strategic sectors, and non-strategic sector CPSEs would be privatised or closed. Further, the government announced a National Monetisation Pipeline in August 2021 where central government assets in various sectors would be given on long-term lease to be handed back to government on completion of lease period. The era of public sector was finally coming to an end in India.
