Government is likely to ease pressure on oil, power and coal CPSEs to achieve their annual financial targets in the face of their inability to pass on the increasing raw material cost to the consumers.
A committee headed by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar will soon consider a Department of Public Enterprises' (DPE) proposal for setting less stringent financial targets for the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), particularly those operating under the Administered Price Mechanism.
The DPE proposal is based on the report of a working group in the department which suggested reducing the financial weightage from 50 per cent to 40 per cent for firms working under APM. For corporations engaged in social welfare, like those of minorities, SCs/STs weightage would be 30 per cent.
"PSUs working under APM had been demanding a revision in the performance parameters since they were not able to meet the tough targets because of rising inputs costs but administered prices," an official said.
A high-powered committee fixes the norms in the memorandum of understanding signed between the government and the PSUs.
Oil firms like Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Indian Oil Corporation are suffering under-recoveries of Rs 390 crore per day on sale of petrol, LPG and kerosene.
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Coal India, the largest coal miner, has not been able to revise its selling price this year while the cost of mining equipment has gone up considerably.
The power firms too have seen increase in the generation cost while they operate under strict pricing regime.