Deficiencies in financial management, which has led to increased borrowings and shortage in revenue collection, have gifted losses to two major power distribution companies in Haryana, according to the state’s Comptroller and Auditor General.
Of the five loss-making PSUs in the state for 2010-11, two are bigger loss-making ones: Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (UHBVNL) and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (DHBVNL). The 2010-11 losses for the two major state-owned power distribution companies (discoms) stood at Rs 884.22 crore and Rs 779.01 crore respectively, the top auditor said in its report.
Problems in revenue collection efficiency has been major reason for discoms posting huge losses.
Balance outstanding, which indicates delay in payments by consumers, has increased for for UHBVNL -- from Rs 1428.75 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 2377.97 crore in 2010-11. As for DHBVNL, it rose from Rs 1338.07 crore to Rs 2250.57 crore during the same period.
The didcoms have blamed rural domestic category consumers for outstanding dues, since rural consumers in the hope of a loan waiver hold back the bill payments. The dependency on borrowings of both the discoms has increased over 400 times since 2006-07, thus disturbing the financial management for the companies.
Out of the 22 PSUS in Haryana, five posted losses in 2010-11, as per the report. Interestingly, the combined profit posted by 17 PSUs in the state for 2010-11 is just a quarter of the losses posted by the five PSUs in the state. While the combined profit earned by 17 PSUs stood at Rs 426.30 crore, the incurred loss by five PSUs is that of Rs 1665.52 crore.
Haryana has 22 working PSUs; 7 of them non-working. The report suggests that three non-working PSUs incurred an expenditure of Rs 41.56 lakh in 2010-11. The debt on state PSUs has increased by over 150 per cent in the last 5 years, thereby putting more pressure on such enterprises.
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From a debt of Rs 7770.87 crore in 2005-06, the figure has now increased to Rs 19,936.62 crore, causing deterioration on debt/turnover ratio.
The report suggest review of the last three years’ audit report shows that the working state PSUs incurred losses of Rs 4137.345 crore. Of this, Rs 1870.24 crore was “controllable”.
The report has called for self-reliance of PSUs, so that they could be efficiently managed.