Govt. appointing merchant bankers for offloading shares in SAIL, ONGC

There is no need for price discovery for highly liquid stocks like SAIL or ONGC. Instead of wasting money on merchant bankers, it can just offload a small percentage in market every week through OFS route.

It will fasten the process of disinvestment of PSU shares. Regular offloading in small lots will also not depress the prices. Early and faster action will give a right signal to the market.

Offloading of existing listed PSUs in small lots can be done through automated process by way of draw of lots one day before sale. Govt. has also ETF route for such actions.

Govt. should concentrate more on listing unlisted PSUs like HAL.

Railways and Coal India can also list their subsidiaries for healthy competition.

After disinvestment, the PSUs should appoint independent directors elected by Non-Govt. shareholders.

Speed up the railways in general instead of few high-speed trains

We should thank the rail minister that he will emphasize on completion of existing projects than taking up new ones. It is always viable for any organisation to expand and consolidate. Revenue does not start before the project is completed. Thus a plethora of ongoing projects be first completed with priority on those nearing completion.

One disturbing thing is that the minister has not missed the chance to play for galleries. He jumped the gun by announcing high speed trains in certain routes. The railways need to speed up the rail travel in general and lay double or triple lines on the high traffic zones for the purpose. Moreover, it needs to develop more terminal stations in new towns and cities instead of concentrating on few metros and cities. This will help the railways to free up its tracks and increase the average speed of trains.

It is irony that time taken for journey to Delhi from Kolkata or to Bombay to Kolkata has remained stationery for years. We need to take the help of our premier institutes like IIMs and IITs in this regard. We should prefer to involve institutions rather than individuals.

New Medical Colleges in tier-ii & tier-iii towns

We have seen mushrooming of engineering colleges in last decade leading to surplus and joblessness for students from lower placed colleges. It is high time, we start new medical colleges too. The private healthcare industry need to take the lead in this regard instead of just looking at the Govt. Since medical colleges need good infrastructure, it is difficult to find enough space in tier-i cities. Therefore, they should concentrate in tier-ii and tier-iii towns. Health professionals from the smaller towns will also happily man the healthcare institutions in these places.