Govt's outstanding guarantees to PSUs at Rs 18,900 cr

The state government's outstanding guarantees for loans taken by 12 working public sector undertakings works out to be a whopping Rs 18,982 crore as on March 31, 2004, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)'s report which was placed before the state legislative Assembly on Thursday.

The state government has guaranteed loans aggregating Rs 2,648 crore to working PSUs only during the year 2003-04, the report pointed out.

As per the details mentioned in the audit report for the year 2003-04, the total investment in 34 working PSUs increased to Rs 30,088 crore by the end of March 2004, from Rs 26,538 crore in the year 2003.

The total investment in non-working PSUs also increased from Rs 702.49 crore to Rs 753.84 crore during the same period. As on March 31, 2004, the state had 51 PSUs comprising 48 government companies and three statutory corporations.

While five PSUs out of seven companies, which finalised their annual accounts for the year 2003-04, had earned an aggregate profit of Rs 515.43 crore, another five companies incurred losses to the tune of Rs 602.46 crore, which exceeded their aggregate paid-up capital of Rs 65.65 crore, the report said.

The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC), which is already running into losses, registered an accumulated loss of Rs 1,018.83 crore, which exceeded its paid-up capital of Rs 201.27 crore, the report stated.

As per the latest finalised accounts up to September 2004, the capital employed worked out to Rs 20,383.64 crore in 27 working government companies (excluding four no-loss-no-profit companies) and the total return thereon amounted to Rs 2,280.24 crore in the previous year.

Similarly, the capital employed and total return thereon in case of working statutory corporations as per the latest finalised accounts worked out to Rs 1,702.50 crore and Rs 182.22 crore as compared to the total return of Rs 1,680.73 crore and Rs (-) 80.72 crore in the previous year, the report said.