Department of Disinvestment, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India |
24 May 2013 6:39:29 PM |
On 27 January 2005, the Government had decided to constitute a 'National Investment Fund' (NIF) into which the realization from sale of minority shareholding of the Government in profitable CPSEs would be channelised. The Fund would be maintained outside the Consolidated Fund of India. The income from the Fund would be used for the following broad investment objectives:-
| (a) | Investment in social sector projects which promote
education, health care and employment; |
|
| (b) |
Capital investment in selected profitable and revivable Public Sector Enterprises that yield adequate returns in order to enlarge their capital base to finance expansion/ diversification |
Salient features of NIF:
| (i) | The proceeds from disinvestment of
CPSEs will be channelised into the National
Investment Fund which is to be maintained outside the Consolidated Fund of
India |
|
| (ii) | The corpus of the National Investment Fund will be of a
permanent nature |
|
| (iii) |
The Fund will be professionally managed to provide
sustainable returns to the Government, without depleting the corpus.
Selected Public Sector Mutual Funds will be entrusted with the management
of the corpus of the Fund |
|
| (iv) |
75% of the annual income of the Fund will be used to
finance selected social sector schemes, which promote education, health
and employment. The residual 25% of the annual income of the Fund will be
used to meet the capital investment requirements of profitable and
revivable CPSEs that yield adequate returns, in order to enlarge their
capital base to finance expansion/ diversification |
Fund Managers of NIF
The following Public Sector Mutual Funds have been appointed initially as Fund Managers to manage the funds of NIF under the ‘discretionary mode’ of the Portfolio Management Scheme which is governed by SEBI guidelines.
| i) | UTI Asset Management Company Ltd. |
|
| ii) | SBI Funds Management Company (Pvt.) Ltd. |
|
| iii) | LIC Mutual Fund Asset Management Company Ltd. |
Corpus of NIF
The corpus of the Fund is Rs.1814.45 crore being the proceeds from the disinvestment in Power Grid Corporation and Rural Electrification Corporation. The pay out on NIF was Rs.84.81 crore in the year 2008-09, Rs.248.98 crore in the year 2009-10, Rs.107.32 crore in 2010-11 and Rs. 163.19 crores in 2011-12.
Use of Disinvestment Proceeds
The income from the Fund is to be used for the following broad investment objectives:
| (a) |
75% to finance selected social sector schemes, which
promote education, health and employment |
|
| (b) |
25% to meet the capital investment requirements of
profitable and revivable CPSEs that yield adequate returns, in order to
enlarge their capital base to finance expansion/diversification |
However, in view of the difficult economic situation caused by the global
slowdown of 2008-09 and a severe drought that was likely to adversely affect
the 11th Plan growth performance, the Government, in November 2009, decided to
give a one-time exemption to utilization of proceeds from disinvestment of
CPSEs for a period of three years – from April 2009 to March 2012 – i.e.
disinvestment proceeds during this period would be available in full for
meeting the capital expenditure requirements of selected social sector
programmes decided by the Planning Commission/Department of Expenditure. Now as the Country is facing very difficult economic conditions due to Continued financial/economic
problems in Europe, impacting the economic growth in India, higher subsidy burden relating to petroleum, food and fertilizers, high Interest rate impacting the manufacturing sector, affecting
excise collection, falling revenue collection, the exemption cited above has been extended upto March 2013.
Accordingly, from April 2009, the disinvestment proceeds are being routed
through NIF to be used in full for funding capital expenditure under the
social sector programmes of the Government, namely:-
| (i) | Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme |
|
| (ii) | Indira Awas Yojana |
|
| (iii) | Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana |
|
| (iv) | Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission |
|
| (v) | Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme |
|
| (vi) | Accelerated Power Development Reform Programme |