Clarifying the Centre's decision to carry forward all disinvestment decisions that have already received Cabinet approval was an important part of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's post-Budget 2026 conference on Sunday.
This comes after the Budget 2026 set an ambitious disinvestment target of Rs 80,000 crore for FY27—a 136 per cent jump from the Rs 33,800 crore that was the FY26 target, despite the government missing its asset sale goals over the past few years.
Notably, so far in the current fiscal, the government has raised only Rs 8,800 crore through disinvestment, widening the gap between the target and reality, as per a Fortune India report.
“All our disinvestments which have been approved by the cabinet earlier. That list will continue to be before us and we will carry forward every such divestment,” Sitharaman noted, at the presser.
Her team also explained the rationale behind the Rs 80,000 crore disinvestment target, pointing out that disinvestment and the closure of public sector units (PSUs) are being pursued as part of a broader, composite strategy to "enhance or increase the participation and efficiency of the private sector".
They added that a lot of progress had also been made under this framework.
“As part of that strategy as on the BLF side, whatever in-principle approvals we have obtained for both disinvestment and closures, say about 50 of them, have already been completed. Which means about 12 closures and 13 strategic disinvestment transactions. The other ones are on track,” they explained.
"That is why we keep aspirational targets because we are fully on track and fully committed to completing each one of them and taking them to a logical conclusion," FM Sitharaman's team said.
In the presser, the Union Finance Minister also reiterated on the economic vision and the strategic goals of the newly unveiled Budget, and clarified the motives behind the increase in the capex target to Rs 12.2 lakh crore.
Discussions on fiscal and tax policy took place as well, in addition to FM Sitharaman reiterating the Budget's support for various industries and social welfare.