Protest from executives at Bharat Petroleum against privatisation plan

Executives at state-run Indian companies voiced their opposition to government plans to privatise oil refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd . Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government last month approved the sale of BPCL and four other state-run companies to plug a widening fiscal gap as the government looks to revive a slowing economy. Thousands of workers have protested the privatisation . They fear job losses to accompany.


According to protesting executives, “offering the Indian petroleum sector on a platter to a foreign company would herald another era of profiteering, exploitation, tyranny and flight of capital from the company.” It aims to raise more than 1 trillion rupees in current fiscal year through stake sales.


BPCL, which also operates fuel stations, is one of India’s most profitable oil refiners and had regularly bailed out the government through higher dividends.


Modi’s government has said that privatising energy companies will enhance competition and, thereby, benefit the public.
Protesters, however, said that in the event of natural disasters it is only state-run oil companies that come to the rescue of the people.
Selling BPCL to a private company would lead to the discontinuation of several social schemes, such as the allotment of fuel stations and jobs to so-called lower caste people, according to the protesters.