PSUs must tread carefully while doing business abroad: Salman Khurshid

NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Thursday said state-run firms are not timid but need to tread carefully while doing business abroad because they are accountable to Parliament and their bad decision is often taken as corruption.

"They are not timid, but accountable to many organisations like the CAG and Parliament. They have to tread carefully, whereas private sector can take their own decisions. They (private sector) can take bad decisions but in state-run firms, you can't take bad decisions as it is often equated with corruption," he said on the sidelines of "Energy Security Conference 2012" here.

The Conference was jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry ( CII) and Ministry of External Affairs.

When asked if his ministry would hold talks with Kazakhstan to get NOC for ONGC-Videsh Ltd for buying ConocoPhillips' 8.4 per cent stakes in the Kashagan oilfield, Khurshid said, "If we are asked to push a particular policy position we will. But the decision has come from my coordinate ministry."

In ONGC's largest acquisition to date, ONGC Videsh had agreed last month to acquire ConocoPhillips' 8.4 per cent stake in the Kashagan oilfield in Kazakhstan for around USD 5 billion.

The acquisition is subject to the approval of the governments of Kazakhstan and India and also to other partners in the Caspian Sea field waiving their pre-emption rights.