Pitching for a level playing field and greater autonomy for public sector units, President Pranab Mukherjee today said this will encourage them to get listed in the stock market and improve their performance.
"Much more needs to be done to provide a level playing field between the public and private sectors in terms of flexibility of operation and quicker decision-making. A measure that can help in this process is the listing of PSEs on stock exchanges," Mukherjee said here.
He was speaking at the Global Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) Summit.
He said the listing would allow millions of small and large shareholders to participate in their (state-run firms) ownership, the collective action of which could stimulate the PSEs to better their performance.
Out of around 260 units, only 60 are listed in the stock exchanges.
"The country needs a strong public sector to complement the efforts of the private industry. It underlines the need to bring in measures to strengthen the PSEs," he added.
The President said the government-run companies are facing challenges such as increasing their competitiveness to deal with market forces.
"Management has to be of the highest professional level, enabling the attainment of global benchmarks in productivity and efficiency and meeting the multiple objectives expected of contemporary global enterprise," he said.
Management of human resources, including dealing with the existing skill gap as well as forecasting and preparing for skills required in the future, have to be accorded priority, Mukherjee added.
"Many of our PSEs have emerged as exemplars in productivity and quality. Their business practices have to be studied and appropriately disseminated to other similar and less successful PSEs," he said.
