The Steel Ministry has directed its PSUs like SAIL and NMDC to work as a team and share resources among them to cut costs after finding that the top management of these PSBs hardly interacted with one another.
The message to steel PSUs has been delivered barely a fortnight after Steel Minister Birender Singh expressed displeasure over their poor show and minced no words by saying they should perform or perish as complacency would not be tolerated anymore.
"I was surprised to see that the top management of these PSUs rarely interacted with the other PSUs. There are areas like storage space for material where under-utilisation can be overcome if they share resources," the Steel Minister told PTI.
The minister has directed to constitute a high-level coordination committee comprising CMDs and top ministry officials for pooling and sharing of resources among PSUs.
"If the PSUs combine their requirement of stores and spares and procure them collectively, they will definitely have better bargaining power. More interaction and coordination would mean they will not have to reinvent the wheel every time they face a problem. They can learn from each other," the minister said.
"After all, they are all part of a big team and that is how they must work," he said adding, "I am confident that this committee would result in cost savings and better productivity."
In a recent meeting of top management of steel PSUs, Singh had asked the PSUs to iron out their differences.
"To the outside world, you should be seen as a cohesive team, and not as a blame-game team. You cannot afford to work in separate compartments and point fingers at other departments. As a manager, it is your duty to get things done. You need to set high standards of professionalism and work culture," he had said.
Singh said pooling of resources among PSUs will lead to aggregation of demand and economies of scale and formation a coordination committee would minimise areas of overlap, duplication and communication gaps and help in harnessing the potential for financial savings.
In today's fast-paced business world, it is essential to work together to retain the competitive edge, he said.
The objective of the committee is to derive benefits of economies of scale by pooling of resources, as also sharing of best practices.
Terms of Reference of the committee included common procurement portal using MSTC Metal Mandi, common marketing and distribution/storage facilities, common research and development, employee welfare issues and payment settlement mechanism.
Singh has issued instructions for immediate action to be taken on formalising a mechanism of coordination among PSUs, which include industry leaders like SAIL, NMDC, RINL, MOIL, MSTC and MECON.
Irked at steel PSUs lagging behind their private
counterparts in efficiency parameters, the minister last month had asked them to take commercial decisions fast, within the policy framework.
He had said that the performance of the PSUs was dismal in the areas of diversification, adoption of technologies, value addition, branding, marketing or quality.
He also said that with the commitment from PSUs, the steel sector can regain its vibrancy and strength as the government was investing huge sums in infrastructure, housing and other sectors.
