Disinvestment is important not just to bridge the gaping hole in the economy created by the stimulus packages but also to lead to significant re-rating of PSU companies.

There is a very good chance that you may not have heard of names like Numaligarh Refinery Limited or Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited or even Kundremukh Iron Ore Limited. Well, these companies have neither made any multimillion dollar acquisition nor made it to the Fortune 500 list. These are the twinkling stars in the kitty of the government that are eligible candidates from the list of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) shortlisted for the much-touted `disinvestment' program of the current government.

Disinvestment typically refers to sale by the government, partly or fully, of a government-owned enterprise. This is also popularly known as `divestment' or `divestiture' or `people's ownership of state-owned firms', as Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee prefers to describe the government's divestment program.

For the first four decades after independence, India was pursuing a path of development, and the public sector was expected to be its engine of growth. But like any other developing country, the industrial sector was plagued by stagnation for full two decades.

The Analyst Magazine, Disinvestment Program, Central Public Sector Enterprises, CPSEs, Multimillion Dollar Acquisition, Numaligarh Refinery Limited, Industrial Sectors, Financial Meltdown, Global Recession, PSU Disinvestment, Minority Disinvestments, Complete Privatization, National Thermal Power Corporation, Market Capitalization.