5 states claim half of PSUs investment: Study

Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh were the major investment destinations for the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) between 2008-09 and 2012-13, claiming 50 per cent of their total investment of Rs 5.5 lakh crore, according to a study by Assocham.
Maharashtra alone claimed 20 per cent of the total gross investments, followed by Andhra Pradesh (8.4 per cent), Tamil Nadu (8.1 per cent), Odisha (6.7 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (6.2 per cent).
Interestingly, those which were at the bottom of the investment destinations include some of the developed states like Gujarat, Karnakata and Haryana.
The bottom states in terms of CPSE investments were: Bihar (3.2 per cent), Gujarat (2.8 per cent), Karnataka (2.5 per cent), Jharkhand (1.9 per cent), Kerala (1.5 per cent), Rajasthan (1.1 per cent), Jammu & Kashmir (1.1 per cent), Arunachal Pradesh (0.9 per cent), Uttaranchal (0.8 per cent), Punjab (0.7 per cent) and Haryana (0.6 per cent), highlights its paper.

However, the investment would have been much more with improved employment generation had there not been delays in execution and implementation of the new projects, the study noted.
There were altogether 582 projects under implementation in the central sector as on June 2013. Out of these, 311 projects reported a time over run ranging from one month to 240 months which could have had a negative impact on employment, it said.

"Investment is a function of the state of economy, historical base of the concerned CPSE, industrial environment and the push factor of the states besides priorities of the Central Government. Despite talks of autonomy, the public sector investment decisions are influenced by several factors other than pure commercial considerations," Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said.

Besides the top five states receiving the maximum of CPSE investment, other major beneficiaries included West Bengal (5.3 per cent), Chhattisgarh (4.8 per cent), Assam (3.9 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (3.8 per cent) and Himachal Pradesh (3.4 per cent), adds the Study paper.
Moreover, CPSEs investment growth rate was recorded at 9.05 per cent in 2012-13 on year on year basis as compared to 13.42 per cent in 2011-12, 9.48 per cent in 2010-11 and 15.52 per cent in 2009-10," adds the paper.
However, the CPSEs managed to rake in a smart growth in net profit despite difficult years in the global and domestic economy. Overall net profit of all 229 CPSEs during 2012-13 stood at Rs 1.15 lakh crore compared to Rs. 0.98 lakh crore during 2011-12 showing an increase of 17.36 per cent.