Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi (SHP)

New Delhi, Nov 17: On Saturday, Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman announced that by March 2020, the government will be finalising the sale of state-run airline Air India and oil refiner and marketer Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL).

“We are moving on both with the expectation that we can complete them this year. The ground realities will play out,” she said in an exclusive TOI interview. One of the major reasons for undertaking the sale of the two major companies in the centre's intent to raise over Rs 1 lac crore in the current fiscal year.

Sitharaman said there is a 'lot of interest' among investors as evident in international roadshows ahead of the sale of Air India. In the past, the sale of Air India was aborted due to poor response from investors. The government is banking on receipts from disinvestment – comprising strategic sale and public offers – to shore up revenues in a year when tax collections are under pressure.

Sitharaman also claimed that the government has taken extensive measures to reverse the economic slowdown at the right time causing several sectors to come out of distress.

The FM, however, said she expected GST collections to revive on the back of an improvement in sales in some segments as also due to recent efforts to plug leakages. Sitharaman also said the Supreme Court judgement on Essar Steel had established constitutionality and legal strength of the IBC law and would have a huge impact on the balance sheets of banks in the next quarter.

She said there were signs of revival in consumer sentiment, which was manifested in demand of nearly Rs 1.8 lac crore in loans from banks at the outreach programme during the festival season.

“If consumer confidence is not on way to being restored, why would you think that such an amount would have gone out as loans during the two outreach programmes started by banks? It is all over the country,” Sitharaman added.