Piyush Goyal to chair meet to decide fate of 3 PSUs

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal will next week chair a key meeting on the closure of Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation of India (MMTC), State Trading Corporation (STC) and Project & Equipment Corporation of India, which were denotified as nominated agencies for imports and exports of goods like high-grade iron ore and precious metals last year.

A decision on the closure of the three PSUs, especially strategic disinvestment of MMTC, is likely at the October 23 meeting.

"There is a section of the government which wants the closure of these three PSUs as they are no longer serving their purpose but it is difficult to preempt if a decision would be made," said an official.


MMTC clocked a profit of ₹1,076.07 crore in FY23 against loss of ₹241.93 crore in 2021-22. As on September 30, 2023, the government holds 89.93% stake in MMTC.

According to another official, the meeting is a routine one and a stocktaking exercise as the three PSUs are under the administrative control of the commerce and industry ministry which was studying their work. The government had decided to shutdown many PSUs in 2019 after a review of investments by central public sector enterprises in publicly listed state-level entities to ensure that these CPSEs are not saddled with unrelated ventures or loss-making firms.

STC was set up in 1956 as a trading arm of the government to undertake trade with East European countries while PEC was incorporated as a subsidiary of STC in 1971 to handle the canalised business of export of railway and engineering equipment and became an independent firm in 1997. MMTC was setup in 1963 as an independent entity on separation from STC, primarily to deal in exports of minerals and ores and imports of non-ferrous metals.