Profit-making state PSUs to be on bourse

BHUBANESWAR: The State Government is seriously contemplating listing some of the profit-making public sector undertakings (PSUs) in the stock exchanges of the country. “The Public Enterprise Department is  considering for public listing of some of the viable PSUs of the State in major stock exchanges of the country to make them more efficient and transparent,” Finance and Public Enterprises Minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei told mediapersons. A public limited company will be able to raise funds from the market to meet their resource requirement which in turn will reduce dependency of the PSU on the Government, he added.After a review of the performance of the State PSUs, the Minister said eight of the 32 PSUs are incurring heavy losses. The loss-making PSUs were asked to either improve their condition or face privatisation. The PSUs which are consistently incurring losses will be privatised, he said.Of the 24 profit-making PSUs, the Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) and the Orissa Hydro-Power Corporation (OHPC) have been doing well and making profit.  The State PSUs have been categorised on the lines of the Central PSUs. While the Central PSUs are accorded Navaratna and Mini-Navaratna status as per their performance and profit earning, the State PSUs were categorised under four  parameters. The most profit-making PSUs like OMC and OHPC are given platinum status while the second best companies are categorised as gold. Loss-making PSUs were kept in bronze section while slightly better off organisations were given silver status, he said. The PSUs which had incurred heavy loss and had no chance of revival were asked to submit proposals to improve their condition by forging joint ventures with private parties. “Functional autonomy will be given to the PSUs on the basis of their financial and operational strength which will enable them to take decisions without much interference from the Government,” he said adding, the PSU heads were asked to sign MoUs with concerned departments to gain autonomy. “The PSUs can appoint any technocrat or professional as head of their organisation if needed,” Ghadei said. The PSUs which had not updated their annual audits must do it soon.Loss-making PSUs included Kalinga Iron Works Limited, Orissa Construction Corporation, Orissa Lift Irrigation Corporation and Orissa Rural Housing Development Corporation.  Chief Secretary BK Patnaik, Development Commissioner RN Senapati, Secretaries of concerned departments and chief executives of the PSUs were present.