Panel to put PSUs' foreign buys plan on fast track

NEW DELHI: The government will soon set up a mechanism for speedy disposal of foreign acquisition proposals moved by state-owned enterprises.

An empowered committee, chaired by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar, will be constituted to take a call on the applications of public sector units seeking to acquire strategic assets abroad, said Bhaskar Chatterjee, secretary in the Department of Public Enterprises. The department is the nodal agency for all state-owned enterprises.

"Secretaries of the administrative ministry (in-charge) of PSU, its chairman and managing director, and representatives of ministries of external affairs, law and finance will be on the empowered committee," he said.

Chatterjee said the new mechanism would ensure that state-owned enterprises get approval for investments abroad directly from the high-powered committee within three weeks. "They will take the proposals directly to this committee. They don't have to go through the process of referring their proposals to the ministry," he said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said in December that his government was working on a policy to support public sector units in their efforts to acquire overseas raw material assets. The proposal for constituting the empowered committee will be placed before the Cabinet after it wins approval of the Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Praful Patel.

In an unrelated development, Patel on Friday sought the coveted 'Maharatna' tag for state-run power equipment manufacturer Bharat Heavy Industries or BHEL. "One of the companies which can qualify for the Maharatna status in the near future is BHEL," he said on the sidelines of an event here.

At present, there are only four Maharatna companies - ONGC, Indian Oil, SAIL and NTPC. A Maharatna company enjoys more financial flexibility. Under the current rules, a Maharatna company can invest 15% of its net worth in a single project for establishing a new venture or undertaking an acquisition with a cap of 5,000 crore.