In recent years, only partly due to the general downturn in the economy, the public sector major has been in the dumps. Despite the demand for steel picking up in recent months, SAIL continues to be in the red. It is expected to end this financial year with a loss of Rs 20 billion. Mind you, this is over and above the accumulated losses of nearly Rs 100 billion in the last couple of years. The SAIL scrip, once a top performer among public sector companies, has thus been languishing at far below par.
Official sources fear strong opposition from entrenched trade unions to the proposed privatisation.
That may explain why they are chary of calling it privatisation, preferring instead to term it, euphemistically, 'restructuring'. Act in haste, regret at leisure 'T hink before you leap' is an adage which the Vajpayee government keeps forgetting. The case in point is the announcement that former President Ramaswamy Venkataraman would head the proposed Constitution review panel. The prime minister had spoken to Venkataraman and obtained his consent. Muthuvel Karunanidhi would veto RV's appointment.