India's new transport minister rules out sell-off of stake in state-owned SCI.

(From Lloyds List)

Byline: Frontrunners in bid say they are unsurprised, writes Shirish Nadkarni in Mumbai

WITHIN 24 hours of taking over as India's Minister for Shipping and Surface Transport, TR Baalu of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam made two important announcements: the merger of Shipping into the Surface Transport Ministry, and ruling out the divestment plan for the state-owned Shipping Corp of India.

'It is not necessary to privatise SCI; I am not mad,' was Mr Baalu's statement on the subject, just before he held a meeting in New Delhi with the country's top shipowners, including two top SCI brass chairman and managing director Prabhat Kumar Srivastava and director, liner shipping, Sudhir Rangnekar.

This puts a medium-term stopper on the much-delayed plan to sell a 51% controlling equity stake in the national carrier to a 'strategic partner'.

SCI will remain within the government fold.

The previous Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government had dithered on two separate occasions on the SCI divestment proposal, and had 'temporarily shelved' the plan after offering control of the shipping giant to a suitable partner in the past three years.