Thiruvananthapuram: As many as 27 public sector undertakings under the Industries department have recorded a loss of Rs. 90.77 crore during the first four months of this fiscal, compared to Rs. 73.52 crore during the corresponding period of last fiscal.
It is at such a scenario that E. P. Jayarajan has begun his second innings as Industry minister and the most challenging task the industry sector is expecting from him is to prevent the PSUs from nosediving into further losses.
Though Mr. Jayarajan could heave a sigh of relief that at least five PSUs under the department registered a profit of Rs. 92.15 crore during the first four months, it is also Rs. 1.93 crore less compared to the profit made these PSUs during the corresponding period of last fiscal.
Moreover, Kerala Minerals and Metals which has been one of the highest profit making public sector undertaking, also witnessed a declining trend with profit of Rs. 59.49 crore during April - July 2018, compared to Rs. 75.36 crore during April - July 2017.Among the loss making units Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation tops the list with Rs.11.17 crore during April-July this fiscal compared to Rs. 2.42 crore during corresponding period of last fiscal.
Malabar cements that had a profit of Rs. 1.98 core during April-July 2017 has now recorded a loss of Rs. 10.98 crore.
Industry sources said that though Mr. Jayarajan already initiated steps like revamping the Restructuring and Internal Audit Board, more stringent steps like making key officials of loss making public sector undertakings accountable should be initiated. Transferring such officials to other public sector undertakings would only wreck those public sector undertakings as well."Instead of highlighting the profit made by a few units and covering up the loss being suffered by majority of units, the government should urgently look into the specific issues faced by each loss making unit and initiate appropriate steps," said an Industry department official.
