Public sector units headed for crisis in Kerala

Development initiatives of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) are likely to be derailed as the Finance Department has not yet cleared the budgetary allocation due for them in the current financial year.

Official sources told The Hindu here that about 95 per cent of the 30 PSUs have not yet received their share apportioned in the budget and many of them are finding the going tough.

The budgetary support for PSUs for 2011-12 and 2012-13 has been pegged at Rs.130.30 crore. By delaying the sanctioning of funds on technical grounds, except the PSUs which have their own funds and those enjoy a monopoly in the market, almost all others are running into a crisis.

The worst hit are spinning mills, textile mills, the Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation, the Kerala State Handloom Development Corporation, the Kerala State Bamboo Corporation and such others which are heavily dependent on the budgetary allocation for their survival. Timely procurement of raw materials is quite imperative for the textile and cashew units.

Delayed sanctioning of funds will upset their functioning and will be in no position to meet the challenges thrown up by private players in the global market.

Companies like Malabar Cements Limited (MCL) which have a sound financial base need not have to wait for the budgetary assistance to embark on new ventures. Units like Kerala Minerals and Metals Limited (KMML) which enjoy a monopoly too are better placed when compared to others.

Bureaucratic ineptness

Bureaucratic ineptness and minor technicalities raised by the Finance Department were being cited as the main reason for the inordinate delay. Procedural wrangles too are aplenty. There were complaints that the requests for raw material procurement from the PSUs are not being treated with due importance and often held up on flimsy technical grounds, the sources said.

Funds for PSUs are being apportioned against the projects submitted to the government. Proper coordination among departments can easily clear the hurdles and expedite the flow of funds to the PSUs at the right time. But no such steps have been taken so far and the projects remain trapped in the files for long.

On providing the funds at the fag end of the financial year, the PSUs may be forced to implement their schemes in a haphazard manner and the development priorities may be upset.