44 out of 66 PSUs in AP, Telangana in the red

The majority of public sector undertakings in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are making losses. As many as 44 of the 66 PSUs made an aggregate loss of ₹795 crore in 2014-15. Only five PSUs were able to declare dividend, totalling ₹145 crore.

Eleven of them belonged to Telangana. The remaining 33 are being demerged between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana under the AP Reorganisation Act.

The CAG report for 2014-15 was tabled in the Telangana Assembly on Wednesday.

Singareni Collieries, which belongs to Telangana, made a profit of ₹492 crore.

Major contributors to profit were AP Forest Development Corporation, AP State Warehousing Corporation and AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said.

The report said the State registered a revenue surplus of ₹369 crore, with total outstanding liabilities constituting 22.79 per cent of GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product). “This, however, was within the stipulated FRBM Act ceiling of 27.6 per cent,” the report said.

Revenue receipts of ₹51,042 crore mainly came from tax collections of 57.38 per cent.

The CAG was unhappy about delays in submission of annual accounts by several autonomous bodies and authorities diluted the spirit of accountability. It said excess expenditure of ₹304 crore was incurred during 2014-15 without legislative authorisation.

“Lump sum provisions to the tune of ₹2,555 crore without specific details of expenditure were included in the Budget for 2014-15. The entire provision was surrendered at the end of the year,” it said.

Evidence of unrealistic budgetary assumptions and weaknesses in expenditure monitoring and control were noticed during the year. “Several policy initiatives taken up by the government were either unfulfilled or were partially executed, primarily due to non-approval of scheme guidelines or modalities,” it said.

About 47,000 vouchers in support of payments worth ₹1,800 crore were not received in the office of the Accountant General. “This leaves the system vulnerable to the risk of misappropriation and fraud,” it said.

On the e-governance scheme Mee Seva, it said the performance of Mee Seva centres needs improvement as many centres have not recorded any transactions during the year, depriving people of e-governance services.