Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Singh Thakur has said that privatization of Vishakapatnam steel plant will not enter the strategic arena and that such public sector commercial industries will be privatized wherever possible and if not, the industries will be shut down.
He said this while responding to a written question in the Rajya Sabha by Sasmit Patra, a BJP member from Odisha on the sale and privatization of state-owned steel industries.
Anurag Singh said the central government had introduced the new public sector undertaking policy on February 4, 2021, which would apply to central government agencies, public sector banks, and public sector insurers.
According to the policy, existing public sector commercial enterprises are divided into strategic and non-strategic sectors. He said the government would try to privatize or shut down non-strategic public sector companies wherever it faces losses. The steel industry is coming into the field of the non-strategic sector.