Jairam Ramesh Suggests Privatisation of SAIL Units Called Off

Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh claimed that the central government, led by Narendra Modi, bears sole responsibility for the uncertainty surrounding the proposed divestment of SAIL (Steel Authority of India Limited) units. Ramesh suggested in a post on X that it seems the privatization has been canceled, marking a victory for workers and political parties like the Indian National Congress that opposed the move.

In the post, Ramesh mentioned that five years ago, the Modi government had decided to sell three units of SAIL: the Alloys Steel Plant at Durgapur, the Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant at Bhadravati, and the Salem Steel Plant. He emphasized that the uncertainty over the past few years has adversely affected the companies, and he attributed this uncertainty to the Modi government.

The statement from Jairam Ramesh followed the government’s decision to scrap the privatization of SAIL’s Salem Steel Plant (SSP) in Tamil Nadu. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had given ‘in-principle’ approval for the strategic disinvestment of SSP in 2019. However, due to a lack of interest from shortlisted bidders, the government decided to annul the current Expression of Interest (EoI) and terminate the transaction. The cancellation followed a similar decision to halt the privatization of Alloys Steels Plant (ASP) in Durgapur in 2019 and the calling off of the sale of Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant (VISP) in Bhadravati, Karnataka, in 2022.