"There's no deadline (for closing down), but 1999 is too far away. I think it should happen earlier than that. They could be closed down by the end of the year. I hope so and I think so," Bakht told a private television channel. Without naming the state-run units, Bakht said the government was creating a situation where non-revivable units would be done away with, a statement from the private television channel said.

"We have to go through the proper process. The Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) has already made recommendations. They will be taken up by the high court and after that they will go to a group of secretaries, the core group. So we can't rush things," the minister said.

On the government's commitment to disinvest 74 per cent of its equity in non-strategic state-rununits, Bakht said the main concern in this area was the slump in the international markets.

"We shall have to make up our mind whether it is the right time to disinvest. It will have to be judged on the basis of what is the best price that we can get for what we are going to disinvest," Bakht said.

He said government would not be disinvesting in any unit other than the four mentioned in the budget - Container Corporation (Concor), Gas Authority (Gail), Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).

About the disinvestment commission, Bakht said the government was sorting out the confusion over its working. The group of secretaries had taken over most of the functions of disinvestment, he said.