Five years ago, the union budget announced its most ambitious privatisation programme to date. The government would keep a bare minimum presence in four strategic sectors and exit everything else. Five years later, the privatisation has resulted in the sale of Air India and Neelachal Ispat, and this week's approval of the sale of IDBI Bank.

While the government will present it as proof of its privatisation drive, it should be read as an exception rather than a success. As they say, proof of the pudding lies in the eating; the country has largely failed to carry out its disinvestment policy. Instead, the entities remain the same while the government continues to........

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