COMPANY LAW
| Submit list of ailing PSUs & their revival plans: Govt to Ministries Wed, 16 Feb 2011 22:17:56 GMT |
| NEW DELHI: The government is planning to ask ministries for a list of ailing companies under them along with their revival plans, a move that will help it decide on strategic stake sales in the public sector units . "The objective is a reality check," a government official privy to the deliberations said. The government, which has already pumped in over 15,000 crore in the revival of 36 sick companies over the last five years, is mulling a comprehensive assessment of sick state-owned units before it decides on strategic sales, the official said. This could lead to stake sales in ailing units like Bharat Opthalmic Glass and Bharat Yantra Nigam Ltd, in which the government has already approved sales. Some other units that could be put on the block are Tungabhadra Steel Products, Triveni Structural, and Hindustan Cables. Ministries will have to prepare a report on the revival mechanism of the sick enterprise, which will help the governing body for reconstruction of sick units decide whether the government should exit them or not, the official added. The parliamentary consultative committee attached to the department of heavy industries has also made a suggestion in this regard. Strategic sales can also help the government meet its divestment targets. It had earlier raised 6,345 crore through strategic sale in 16 state-owned units. "If there are not many blue-chip companies lined up for public offerings next fiscal, a substantial sum can be raised through sale in such companies," said a member of the committee. A government-constituted panel on public-sector pay revision had recommended that the government should withdraw from public-sector enterprises where profits have fallen below 50 crore . Earlier this month, the minister for heavy industries, Praful Patel, had said there were several firms under his ministry, like Scooters India, that need to be looked at differently. "Some disinvestment, some outright sale," he had said. The ministry had cleared a proposal for a 74% stake sale in the loss-making two- and three-wheeler maker. The Board for Reconstruction of Public Enterprises (BRPSE), set up by the government in 2004, has so far recommended revival of 55 state-owned enterprises, of which 36 have been approved. "So far only 14 companies have posted profits in last two financial years, and in some cases these profits are mostly because the government had repaid their old debts," the official added. |
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