Govt mulling PSU disinvestment to generate funds: Gujarat FM

When asked how the state government plans to go about with the disinvestment process, JP Gupta, Principal Secretary, Finance Department told The Indian Express, “Disinvestment is a long drawn process. We want to close down or merge entities and this reorganisation has already taken place. The government should not be part of certain businesses.”

The announcement came a year after the Comptroller and Auditor General had last year flagged 15 PSUs as being either “inactive” or “under liquidation” .

Gujarat has 97 state public sector undertakings (PSUs), some of which are listed on the stock exchanges and are profit-making entities. However, in a report tabled in the state legislature in March last year, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had pointed out that 15 PSUs in were either inactive or under liquidation. Those under liquidation include Gujarat Small Industries Corporation Ltd, Gujarat Leather Industries Ltd, Gujarat State Construction Corporation Ltd, Gujarat State Textile Corporation Ltd, Gujarat Communications and Electronics Ltd and Alcock Ashdown (Gujarat) Ltd.

The inactive government companies included the Gujarat Fisheries Development Corporation, Gujarat Dairy Development Corporation Ltd, Gujarat State Rural Development Corporation Ltd, Gujarat Foundation for Mental Health and Allied Sciences, Infrastructure Finance Company Gujarat Ltd, Gujarat Trans-Receivers Ltd, Naini Coal Company Ltd and Gujarat Industrial Corridor Corporation Ltd.

The CAG had also pointed out that the state government had continued to invest in PSUs such as Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation and Diamond Research and Mercantile Company Ltd, whose net worth had eroded completely.