Press Note of Maharashtra State Electricity Workers Federation
Maharashtra State Electricity Workers Federation
Press Note
Nagpur, Date 06/07/2026
The Federation’s Welfare Central Officers’ Committee has decided to oppose the listing (IPO) of Mahavitaran Company
The central office bearers of the Workers Federation in Kalyan (Mumbai) have decided to strongly oppose the government’s proposal to list the company in the stock market after the division of the Mahavitaran Company. The working committee of the organization has opposed the decision of the government to divide the Mahavitaran Company into two companies, one for non-agricultural electricity consumers and the other for agricultural electricity consumers, M. S. E. B. Solar Agro Company, and to list it in the stock market unilaterally without consulting the employees’ and engineers’ organizations.
The central executive committee of the Federation has strongly opposed the unilateral decision taken without making a bilateral agreement with the organizations regarding the changes in the service conditions, seniority rules, promotions, etc. of the employees due to the formation of two companies of Mahavitaran. The Federation has alleged that the debut of Mahavitaran in the stock market is a path to privatization. On one hand, the Hon. Chief Minister has declared that there will be no privatization of the power companies, while the Federation has alleged that the government and the administration are also starting privatization in new ways.
New ways of privatization, avoiding the use of the word privatization.
On 7 April 2026, the Maharashtra government approved the division of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company into two divisions. The first company is for industrial, commercial, residential and other electricity consumers and the second is MSEB Solar Agro Power Limited. This independent company is entirely for agricultural consumers. With this decision, the government will take responsibility for Rs. 32679 crore out of the arrears owed by 45 lakh farmers and agricultural pump holders in the independent agricultural company. As a result, the burden of arrears on the distribution company will be reduced and the financial position will be strengthened.
Even if we assume that the government’s intention to create an agricultural company is correct, the intention of the government and the management behind listing the Mahavitaran company in the stock market is to secretly take it towards privatization. IPO is not something else but a step towards reducing the ownership of the government in public sector Mahavitaran company and through that towards privatization. Therefore, the Workers Federation is strongly opposed to the IPO.
Potential risks of IPO
After the IPO, the shares of the Mahavitaran company will be available for purchase and sale in the market after getting listed. Although the government and the management initially shows a low percentage of the shares to be listed in the private sector, this percentage will gradually increase the ownership of capitalist companies in Mahavitaran. The IPO of the Mahavitaran company is the process of reducing government ownership and is a way to take it towards privatization. After the IPO, ‘Follow on Public’ Offerings (FPOs) are introduced to reduce the government stake in Mahavitaran. Similarly, in the last few years, the government ownership in many public enterprises has been reduced to 55 to 60 percent through FPOs. It cannot be ignored that due to IPO, there is a risk that social accountability in Mahavitaran will end and profitability (profitable) accounting will begin.
Employees of Mahavitaran will be lured
There is a possibility that the government and the management will also be tempted to give 10-15 percent shares to the employees, engineers and officers of Mahavitaran so that they do not oppose the IPO. However, the impact of the IPO policy on State Bank of India, NTPC and LIC is in front of us. The prima facie argument of the government and the management will be that the linkage of shares through the IPO will remain above 51 percent for the government, so even after that, the control over the company will remain with the government. However, we cannot forget that the Chief Economic Advisor of the Union Finance Ministry has advised to bring down the minimum government stake in public sector undertakings to 26 percent. If the state government and our management follow it, the control of capitalist companies will automatically come.
In the case of IDBI Bank, which is a public sector undertaking, the government initially reduced the government ownership continuously through IPO and FPO and later by making LIC a major shareholder in this bank, the government brought its stake below 51 percent. As a result, IDBI Bank is no longer a public sector bank and it can be privatized. The situation of Mahavitaran can also be exactly the same.
The agenda of the country’s biggest capitalists like Adani, Ambani, Reliance, Goenka, Jindal Torrent (Mehta Group) is to gain complete control of the power sector through privatization. These monopolistic families already have dominance over thermal power generation in the country and own a significant portion of renewable energy. Now they want to gain control over the Mahavitaran and Mahaparashan sectors as well. This IPO policy is an aggressive step towards that agenda.
Not just IPO but also franchise, parallel electricity license, prepaid smart meter, etc. The process of privatization of the vast area of Mahavitaran Company by shifting it to the domain of capitalists and their companies through various means will be accelerated by IPO. Various methods are being adopted for the privatization of the electricity industry, franchising, bringing private companies to compete with Mahavitaran Company, bringing meter reading and recovery work to the surface through smart billing. Efforts are currently underway in Maharashtra to bring franchise companies to some circles of Mahavitaran. Therefore, unless the workers, employees, engineers and officers unite to oppose these policies and measures to save our company and for our existence, we will not be able to stop this evil.
Your faithful
Mohan Sharma (Chairman)
Krishna Bhoyar General Secretary