The aggregate net profit of the 36 public sector undertakings under the Kerala Industries department has increased to Rs 81.39 crore during April - September 2011, registering a growth of 60 per cent compared to the same period of last year.
Announcing this in the state Assembly today, Industries and Commerce minister P K Kunhalikutty said the government had no intention to privatise any of the PSUs and scotched rumours and reports on privatisation.
A comprehensive diversification, modernisation and restructuring package had been envisaged for strengthening the PSUs and retaining them in the public sector, he said.
The public sector Restructuring and Internal Audit Board (RIAB) will be made a watchdog to monitor and evaluate the performance of PSUs. A seperate Public Enterprise Selection Board will be constituted for selecting CEOs and directors in PSUs.
In 2010-11, 30 out of 36 undertakings had clocked a total profit of Rs 294.45 crore with a turnover of Rs 2,496 crore.
In June this year, the minister said in the Assembly that the reports on profit during the Left Democratic Front (LDF) regime were cooked up when most of the PSUs were in troubled situation.
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For cleaning up the balance sheet, government assistance and loans were treated as equity of the companies. The proceeds from the sale of land and other assets were considered as income from the working of the company, he alleged.
Refuting these arguments, Elamaram Karim, who was the Industries and Commerce minister in the Left front ministry, said LDF had not said the accumulated loss were wiped out, but only pointed to the better working results.
He said treating unrecovered loans as equity was a common practice and the government intended to clean up the balance sheet in order to avail OD and loans from the financial institutions.
During the United Democratic Front (UDF) rule in 2001-06 period, the government appointed an Enterprises Reforms Committee (ERC) to study the status and revamping of the PSUs. The ERC report had stated that PSUs had become a huge liability on the state exchequer and asked them to be closed down or privatised. On the basis of the report, the government issued orders for closure/disinvestment of 25 companies and accordingly a large number of workers were given voluntary retirement.
Though the government later shelved the closure/disinvestment move, thanks to wide spread workers agitiations, there was no inititative to make them vibrant and viable. Now the goverment literally shelved the ERC report as the minister categorically stated that PSUs would not be privatised or closed.
The Left government also initiated a plan to set up 10 new public sector units with an investment outlay of Rs 170 crore. The government would go ahead with the formation of these companies, the minister added.