‘Enemy Property Shares’ To Become History: Modi Government Approves Their Sale, Expected To Earn Rs 3,000 Crore
The Union Cabinet, chaired by PM Modi, has given its ‘in-principle’ approval for the mechanism and procedure to be adopted for the sale of enemy shares. This relates to the enemy shares held under the ‘Custody of Ministry of Home Affairs/ Custodian of Enemy Property of India (CEPI).
A total of 6,50,75,877 shares in 996 companies are under CEPI’s possession. These shares are valued at about Rs 3,000 crore, Times of India has reported.
The enemy property, which can include land, shares held in companies, gold etc., refers to the property previously belonging to the citizens of enemy countries (for example, Pakistan and China). These were later seized by the Indian government during times of war.
This approval builds upon the framework provided by The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill that was passed by the NDA government in 2016. It was the first significant step to monetise enemy properties which have been lying dormant since 1968.
The govt has constituted an Alternative Mechanism (AM) committee that will decide on the process of selling these shares. It will be chaired by the Union Minister of Finance, Arun Jaitley and will include the Union Minister of Road Transport, Nitin Gadkari.
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