PET 2026 · Economy

Disinvestment is not always privatisation

Distinguish disinvestment of PSE equity from privatisation, deregulation, devaluation and demonetisation

PDF ↓PNG ↓
MINDMAPS FOR UPSCPET 2026 · VISUAL REVISION

Disinvestment is not always privatisation

Distinguish disinvestment of PSE equity from privatisation, deregulation, devaluation and demonetisation

Comparison
Public Sector Equity & Policy Terms

Disinvestment

  • Government sells part or all of its equity holding in a public enterprise.
  • The transaction changes share ownership.
  • Government sale proceeds are non-debt capital receipts.

Minority stake sale

  • Shares are sold without transferring management control.
  • Government can retain control after selling part of its holding.
  • A partial sale does not by itself establish privatisation.

Strategic disinvestment

  • A substantial or entire holding is sold with management control.
  • The buyer can be private or another public-sector enterprise.
  • Privatisation is the case where ownership/control move to private hands.

Different from deregulation

  • Deregulation relaxes government controls or entry restrictions in a sector.
  • Rules can change even when no government shares are sold.
  • Ask separately: did shares change hands, and did management control change?
Understand · Connect · Recallmindmapsforupsc.com

Practise this concept · संबंधित प्रश्न

One visual, several questions. These links open the original paper at the matching question.

30 Oct · Shift 1 · 2026

Sources & study notes · स्रोत

Independent revision material, linked to the paper’s concepts. The question papers and answer-key status are available on OpenPYQ.