Privatization and public enterprise reform: a suggestive action plan

Abstract

Introducing reforms for the State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) has been an integral part of the reform process initiated in India since 1990s. While reforming, the concerns about ownership, competition and regulation, which have a direct bearing on the issue of the relative performance of publicly owned and privately owned firms have been adequately looked into. This paper focuses on the various modalities of reform options, such as Divestiture (whereby private ownership is inducted in publicly owned enterprises), Greenfield Privatization (whereby private sector is allowed to come and compete in areas hitherto reserved for public sector), and Cold Privatization (that is granting greater autonomy to managers of SOEs by making them sign Memorandum of Understanding) adopted by India to improve the performance of its SOEs. Specifically, the paper gives a comprehensive assessment of the disinvestment policies implemented since 1990. The paper provides a suggestive action plan to spur reforms and improve outcomes and concludes by summarizing the main findings from an overall policy perspective in the context of the Indian SOE reform programme.