Thread by @someshjha7

Happy Easter!

We, at @BloombergQuint, scooped hundreds of pages of correspondences which culminated into the Modi govt's most ambitious privatisation policy.

We broke it down into 4 parts and ran a series of stories starting March 24. Here's a recap of #ThePrivatisationFiles:

In part I, you will get to read about the pushback the new policy received from key ministries, often backed by the Cabinet Ministers.

How easy will it then be for the Modi govt. to drive the privatisation policy?

#PrivatisationFiles

bit.ly/2PpWDFP

Perhaps the pushback was a concern for the finance ministry.

So, with the approval of the Finance Minister, it took a shortcut before unveiling the policy in the Budget (after making significant changes to the draft policy).

Part II is all about that:

bit.ly/39gdnXm

The new policy divides sectors into strategic & non-strategic. The government wants to retain "bare minimum" presence in strategic sectors and will completely exit from the non-strategic areas. In part III & IV, we took up the case of one sector each falling in these two buckets.

Despite being a strategic sector, the Defence Ministry opposed privatisation of all defence manufacturing firms in the "interest of national security."

However, experts found no merit in the arguments.

Read part III of the #PrivatisationFiles

bit.ly/2PzRUBG

Part IV: The Shipping Ministry sent a 30-page report to the finance ministry asking to be kept in the strategic sector.

The ministry wanted the govt to first address inherent issues in the "neglected" sector that has kept away foreign & private investors.
bit.ly/3sSICzH

Please do take out time to read the four-part #PrivatisationFiles series.

Happy Sunday!