Govt to privatise PSUs, seeks their balance sheets
The government has started the process of privatising the loss making Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) with the Finance department seeking details of the assets and losses of the government run companies.
According to officials, the government has recently sought the balance sheets of the PSUs, and majority of the companies have apprised the government about their financial position.Out of the 23 PSUs functioning, majority are running into losses except for the Jammu and Kashmir bank. The net profit of the bank for the financial year 2014-15 has, however, considerably declined.
Officials said major loss making companies include the Jammu and Kashmir Industries Ltd and State Road Corporation (SRTC).
A senior official said government recently sought details about assets and the losses of the PSUs and even asked for their plans to earn profits.
“The Finance department has not only sought the equity share of the companies, but also the budgetary support that they receive from the government. The government has also sought the roadmap that companies have chalked to avoid losses,” he said.
The government has tasked the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPEs) to revive the PSUs and cut down on their losses.
“We have submitted the provisional balance sheet for the last financial year to the government,” said a senior government official.
Though a final decision over the divestment of the PSUs has not been taken as yet, sources said the government plans to set up two holding companies under which the PSUs will work and it has plans to “corporatize them to cut down on their losses.”
“Government is working out the policy to restructure the different PSUs, which have been chronically running into losses, and have to depend on yearly budgetary support to pay for the salaries of the employees. Most of the PSUs are in deep losses and the government wants to work out a concrete strategy to bring them out of red,”’ said a senior official of finance department.
Managing Director Jammu and Kashmir Industries, Javed Iqbal, said they have considerably decreased the losses and have recently submitted the action plan to the government for revival of the different units of the JKIL.
He said the details sought by the Finance department have been send through the administrative department to the government recently.
