Competition for Public Sector Enterprises will increase as government plans further reforms: SAIL Chairman

“The reforms that are being planned by the government are going to add more competition for public sector enterprises,” said SAIL Chairman, AK Chaudhary.

“With every reform that the Country has been ushering in, PSEs (Public Sector Enterprises) have been subjected to a new challenge. Accordingly, as they start competing in free market economies, they are expected to be self-reliant and earn enough not only for their survival but also for their growth. Today, PSEs have completely evolved into commercial organizations with their primary objective shifting to profit making but while still retaining the responsibility of fulfilling other social causes,” Chaudhary said while delivering the keynote address at the Confederation of Indian Industries-Public Sector Enterprises Summit.

“As the Government plans further rounds of reforms, the competition for PSEs from the domestic private and foreign companies will only increase further in coming times. PSEs, accordingly, need to be fully geared up to face the forthcoming challenges in order to survive and see light for another day. The key to survival, however, will be not focusing on survival instead the target should be to grow,” Chaudhary added.

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He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already presented a Vision of New India by 2022 on how Indian PSEs can maximize their geo-strategic reach based on high performance and achieve greater competitiveness.

“PSEs should become more technology and process driven to be more locally and globally competitive and adopt a ‘5-P’ formulae that focuses on Preference, Process, Persona, Procurement and Prepare….Barriers to enhancing exports need to be urgently identified. That will promote exports and reduce imports. It is important to study country lessons, enablers and impediments that will help build supportive policy environment and create a new development model,” he said.

“Our PSEs need to maximise their geo-strategic strength for the purpose, identify new export destinations by sectors, products and services. Operational performance needs to be improved.

PSEs have to be prepared for pursuing a new development model for public sector economy. There is need also to identify the areas where the government can help the CPSEs in strengthening their position vis-à-vis the private sector,” he added.

“Additionally, PSEs need to work on removing some of the inefficiencies which have crept into their system….First and foremost, PSEs need to address their problem of slow decision making. Employees needs to be empowered and encouraged to comment with clarity of thoughts. Policies need to be suitably revamped and modified. Dedicated and sincere employees need to be shielded from harassment from baseless allegations, enquiries and punishments. People need to be assured of safety if they work with transparency and integrity,” Chaudhary said.

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