Assam's ailing PSUs

Not all is well with the public sector units owned by the State Government. It has been officially admitted by the government that of the 49 public sector units that the State Government owns, only a dozen or so have been making profits, and that too very marginal in the real sense of the term, with the majority of them, 39 in all, are in the red. According to the website of the State Government's Public Enterprises Department, the PSUs which have been making some profit include Assam Gas Company (AGC), Assam Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC), Duliajan Numaligarh Pipelines (DNP), Assam Electronics Development Corporation (Amtron), AIIDC, Assam Financial Corporation, Assam Hydrocarbon & Energy Ltd, Assam Mineral Development Corporation, Assam Cooperative Jute Mill, and Assam Tourism Development Corporation. The list of loss-making PSUs is long, and includes, among others, Assam Petrochemicals Ltd (APL), which was till recently in the other list. The worst stories are those of the power companies, Assam Tea Corporation, ASTC, as also Assam Government Marketing Corporation, Assam Livestock & Poultry Corporation, Assam Film (Finance & Development) Corporation, Assam Seeds Corporation and Assam Police Housing Corporation, with the condition of these turning from bad to worse every passing day. It is heartening to note that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has taken a keen interest in the functioning and performance of the state PSUs, and wants the loss-making state PSUs to make a turnaround for good. While he gave such indications while the government-appointed chairpersons of 36 PSUs a few days back, the Chief Minister has also flagged three issues as "thrust areas" for the chairpersons. These are (i) to make the PSUs profit-making entities, (ii) to augment the income of the PSUs so that they can pay regular salaries to employees and (iii) to properly utilize the assets of the PSUs, especially lands. While the expectations of the Chief Minister and his government are clear, what remains hazy is what specific capability or acumen do the chairpersons possess with the help of which they will be able to give the much-expected Midas touch to the ailing PSUs. Looking back, one can very easily understand how the state PSUs were pushed to the red by successive state governments which lacked both vision and commitment, not to speak of any foresight and roadmap. The saddest story is that of STATED, once a profit-making PSU which was thrown to the gutter by successive governments by overburdening it with additional manpower which was more than double than what is required. While most political masters of the past have generally remained unlettered as far as management and technical skills are concerned, a section of overzealous and corrupt bureaucrats took full advantage and misguided the governments by pretending to be technocrats and management wizards. While the Chief Minister is aware that the state PSUs have an accumulated loss to the tune of about Rs 6,000 crore (which is no small amount for a state like Assam), it is in everybody's knowledge that many of the state PSUs have not audited their accounts for several years at a stretch. Thus, what probably can be the first step is to urgently conduct an audit of the state PSUs and update their financial and manpower status, while a separate roadmap for each of them, prepared by experts from institutions like the IIMs can be the second step. Each PSU will require a different strategy; what will work wonders for Assam Tea Corporation may not work the same way for Assam State Warehousing Corporation. The land is a very valuable asset which most of the state PSUs have with them, what the government probably can examine is the possibility of profitably utilizing these lands after freeing them from encroachers. Cost-cutting and austerity is another area, and the practice of appointing vice-chairpersons should be immediately abolished, which will enable the PSUs to save several crore rupees over say five years.