For the Modi government disinvestment hasn't been about earning money

The Modi government has earned twice as much from disinvestment as all previous governments combined have since 1991

Several recent sales and IPOs by the government have brought into question the financial reasoning behind disinvestment. But the fact is that for the Modi government disinvestment hasn’t been about earning money. It’s more about how to spend it sensibly.

The sale of Air India to the Tatas in October 2021 earned the government only about Rs 18,000 crore. Even in this, only 15 per cent went to the government. The rest was all used to service Air India’s massive debt. Most experts believed that this was a poor deal, although they did acknowledge that it was the only one the