Business Recorder learnt on Tuesday that at least two directors have protested, in strong words, with the Privatisation Commission over NIT sell-off plan, and one of them in his letter asked Privatisation Minister Zahid Hamid to refrain from NIT sell-off.
The objecting directors reminded the minister that NIT was making profit of billions of rupees every year and strengthening the funds, besides paying the unit holders good dividend.
According to the letter, these directors are of the view that they are unable to understand why the government wants to get rid of NIT when it was outperforming other funds in the market and bringing dividend of billions of rupees to unit holders.
NIT is at an advance stage for privatisation, and the government plans to complete the transaction before the closing of the current fiscal year. These directors said that majority of board members (8 out of 9) are from the private sector and they, of course, enjoy authority in NIT decision-making. The growing banks like MCB, UBL, NBP, IDBP and few very vibrant private sector institutions like Adamjee and Chanab Group of Companies are its members of the board and they rule the board. Only one senior official of the Finance Ministry represents the government on NIT board.
The aggrieved directors are of the view that NIT is a Rs 80 billion fund and it's an attraction for the individual and institutional investors. Since NIT is a trust fund, individual investors prefer investing their money through it. Faysal Bank, Punjab Bank and National Bank of Pakistan are major institutional unit holders and their collective investment in NIT is around Rs 40 billion. The rest Rs 40 billion investment is of the individual investors.
The NIT annual balance sheets for the last four years indicate profit between Rs two to three billion profit every year and its even going to increase for the current fiscal year.