In push for privatisation, create fair markets and competition It is not ownership but governance which should impact businesses. Unfortunately, successive governments have not been able to reform the governance mixing it with ownership Representative image (PC- MoneyControl.Com) In Budget 2021, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a disinvestment (privatisation) programme worth Rs 1.75 lakh-crore. The privatisation programme, especially of the two public sector banks, has ruffled feathers in Parliament. This led Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remark in the Lok Sabha that the ‘culture of abusing the private sector is no longer accepted’. Modi’s remark hints towards Indian polity’s long-term mistrust of the private sector for much of India’s history. The polity cannot really be blamed as India’s colonisation began with the East India Company which was nothing but a private company.