NEW DELHI, Mar 15 (UNI) Basking in the success of the six IPOs, disinvestment minister Arun Shourie today lashed out at pontiffs, particularly journalists, who had questioned the timing and the manner of his disinvestment campaign in the volatile stock market.
He came down heavily on a section of the financial media which had described the IPOs as a muddle.
"Each and every paragraph of these stories has proved to be false," Shourie retorted, holding a copy of a leading Mumbai-based business magazine which had done a cover story on him.
The government has not only been able to exceed the disinvestment target of Rs 14,500 by Rs 900 crore but also received an overwhelming response from retail and global investors, especially for the ONGC issue which alone grossed in Rs 10,534 crore for a sale of 10 per cent stake.
"Fifteen billion dollars were chasing the two-billion-dollar ONGC issue which shows the kind of confidence the quality global investors have in the Indian economy," the minister said.
Shourie, former editor of the Indian Express, also took a dig at the senior lead and editorial writers.
"I appeal to those journalists to go back now and have a look at their pontifications through editorails," he said.
He said such half-baked and ill-informed reports brought journalism, of which he considers himself a part, a bad name.
