Central units: Many heroes in the making

The Central government seems to be running a major powerhouse. The ET-CMIE PSU Survey covering 380-odd central public sector units (whose financials were available for the period â€˜00-01), reveals that they had a combined net worth of Rs 3,45,790 crore. The sheer magnitude of their size can be judged from their financials. The combined income of all these 380-odd PSUs, including the listed as well as unlisted units, was a staggering Rs 6,28,600 crore for the year â€˜01. The total dividend payout was more than Rs 10,000 crore. While Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has the largest net worth of more than Rs 30,000 crore, Indian Oil is, by far, the largest PSU in terms of sales. It has revenues of more than Rs 1,20,000 crore(almost 20% of the total revenues of all central government PSUs). Besides the usual suspects like Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), the other large revenue generators are Food Corporation of India and National Thermal Power Corporation(NTPC). NTPC has the second-highest net worth of Rs 25,820 crore among all central PSUs with revenues of Rs 20,393 crore. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) follows next with a net worth of Rs 22,829 crore. The interesting case is Coal India which is seventh in terms of net worth with more than Rs 8,800 crore. In terms of profits, the biggest PSU is, again, ONGC. It is followed by NTPC and Indian Oil. There are some interesting cases. We find that a lesser-known company, Oil India, managed a net profit of Rs 467 crore in â€˜01, even more than that of ICICI, or even BHEL. Power Grid Corporation made a net profit of Rs 742 crore, while NABARD had a profit of Rs 1,309 crore; much more than that of IDBI and ICICI combined. While the governmentâ€™s airlines, Indian Airlines and Air-India, are making losses, Airport Authorities of India(AAI) and Pawan Hans seem to be making decent profits. While AAI made a net profit of Rs 214 crore for the year â€˜01 on revenues of Rs 1,867 crore, Pawan Hans made a profit of Rs 50 crore. AAI has even paid out a dividend of Rs 55 crore. In comparison, Air-India and Indian Airlines posted a loss of Rs 40 crore and Rs 159 crore respectively for â€˜01. Around 150 PSUs were loss-making with a combined loss of around Rs 13,000 crore in â€˜01. Fertiliser and coal companies seem to be the biggest drain on the government. The largest loss-maker was Bharat Coking Coal with a loss of Rs 1,276 crore for â€˜01. It is followed by Fertiliser Corporation of India(with a loss of Rs 949 crore), Eastern Coalfield (with a loss of Rs 917 crore) and Central Coalfield (with a loss of Rs 792 crore). The other large loss-making PSUs are Hindustan Photo Films, Konkan Railway and National Jute Mfrs Corporation. This is not all. Fertiliser Corporation had accumulated losses of Rs 6,852 crore, while Hindustan Fertiliser had accumulated losses of Rs 6,150 crore as of â€˜01. In â€˜00-01, the Central government earned a dividend of Rs 10,000 crore from the 380 PSUs which it manages. Apart from the usual contributors like ONGC, NTPC and Indian Oil, some coal companies were active contributors to the exchequer. For instance, Northern Coalfields, Mahanadi Coalfields and Coal India, paid out a combined dividend of Rs 624 crore in â€˜01. Nuclear Power Corporation paid out Rs 165 crore, while Oil India doled out Rs 157 crore. The 380 central government PSUs comprise 31 banks, 17 hire-purchase firms, 10 coal and lignite companies, 17 investment services firms and 27 units engaged in trading. There are also 13 business consultancy firms in the list like India Trade Promotion Organisation, Central Mine Planning and Design Institute, and Water and Power Consultancy Services. Among the smallest central government PSUs are Borrea Coal, Richardson Cruddas, Nagaland Pulp & Paper, Brushware and Katras Jherriah Coal. Their revenues are under Rs 10 lakh. The public sector unit with the highest borrowing(excluding banks and financial institutions) was Food Corporation of India with borowings of Rs 22,240 crore for the year â€˜01. This figure is almost equal to its revenues of around Rs 28,000 crore. SAIL comes next with borrowings of Rs 13, 930 crore. It is followed by National Thermal Power Corporation of India with Rs 9,805 crore. Nuclear Power Corporation, Fertiliser Corporation, Air-India, Konkan Railway and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam were the other PSUs having fairly large borrowings. In contrast, a PSU like Handicrafts and Handlooms Exports Corporation had borrowings of just Rs 13 lakh against its revenues of Rs 420 crore. Related Reports: Â The disinvestment saga Â Â State units: The bottomless pit Â Â Some stand tall, others fall

Central units: Many heroes in the making

The government seems to be running a major powerhouse. The ET-CMIE PSU Survey covering 380-odd central public sector units (whose financials were available for the period ‘00-01), reveals that they had a combined net worth of Rs 3,45,790 crore.

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