PSUs ready to invest more; want government to address coal issue

Heads of infrastructure sector Public Sector Undertakings(PSUs) on Wednesday met India's Finance Minister P Chidambaram and committed tostep up investments, while suggesting to the government that it address theissues related to project clearances and availability of coal.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, National ThermalPower Corporation (NTPC) Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Arup RoyChoudhury said the company plans to invest Rs 20,000 crore in the current fiscaland was confident of the capex plan.

"Discussion (was) on speedy achievement on capex and(we) are confident of achieving capex commitment," he added.

Roy Choudhury said, "We also discussed problems relatedto coal in the presence of coal Secretary." He also expressed the hopethat there could be some direction from the Finance Minister after this meetingon the fuel linkage.

According to Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) Chairmanand Managing Director B Prasada Rao, "Order book at the end of Q1 is at Rs1.35 lakh crore. Our basic trouble is the various problems plaguing the powersector. Our investments are connected to the power sector. Clearances and alsocoal linkages continues to be a problem."

The meeting was called by Chidambaram to nudge bluechip PSUs- sitting on cash pile of about Rs 1.8 lakh crore - to expedite investmentplans. It was attended by Secretaries of different ministries dealing with theinfrastructure sector.

Coal India CMD S Narsing Rao said the company was committedto invest Rs 40,000 crore in 2012-13, provided certain conditions were met.

"Capital investment plan for the current and next 5year plan was discussed. We have a plan for our Rs 25,400 crore (investment)for the current five year plan, plus another Rs 14,500 crore if certainconditions are made. So that takes us to Rs 40,000 crore total," Rao said.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Chairman SudhirVasudeva said that he explained the company's investment strategy toChidambaram.

"We have explained our stand on capex to the FinanceMinister. For the 12th five year (plan period), the company plans to make aninvestment of Rs 1.64 lakh crore. Current year capex plan stands at Rs 33,650crore," he added.

Steel Authority of India (SAIL) chairman C S Verma said thesteel giant was proposing an investment Rs 45,000 crore in the 12th Five YearPlan, besides looking at additional outlay of Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 crore.

"There is no slowdown in the steel sectorcurrently", he added.

Heads of other state-owned companies such as NationalMineral Development Corporation (NMDC), MMTC and Oil India attended the meetingwhich sought to chart out investment timeframe and discuss impedimentshampering business sentiments.

The exercise being undertaken by the Finance Ministry isaimed pushing manufacturing sector and overall economic growth which declinedto nine-year low of 6.5 per cent during 2011-12.

According to the economic data for April-June 2012-13, thequarterly growth declined to 5.5 per cent from 8 per cent in the correspondingquarter last fiscal, mainly on account of poor performance of manufacturingsector.

The manufacturing sector growth during the first quarterdipped to meagre 0.2 per cent compared to 7.3 per cent in the same period lastfiscal.

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