NITI Aayog recommends Privatisation of Central Bank & Indian Overseas Bank

Current GK ( Master) Indian Economy

Government think-tank NITI Aayog has recommended the names of Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) for privatization in the current fiscal (2021-22), as part of the disinvestment process announced in the Union Budget 2021-22.
In the Budget speech 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced privatising two public sector banks (PSBs) and one general insurance company in 2021-22, as per the new PSE (Public Sector Enterprise) policy for ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.
It must be noted that Centre has set a disinvestment target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore for FY22.
Under the privatisation initiative, NITI Aayog was entrusted with the task to suggest names of PSUs in strategic sectors to be merged, privatised, or made subsidiaries of other PSUs.
Following the recommendation, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) and Department of Financial Services (DFS) will now examine the proposal and discuss legislative changes needed for privatisation of banks.
A Core Group of Secretaries, headed by the Cabinet Secretary, will then clear the suggested names, after which the proposal will go to Alternative Mechanism (AM) for its approval and finally to the Union Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister for final nod.