Srinagar: The various Public Sector Undertakings (PSU’s) in the state of Jammu and Kashmir are turning out to be white elephants for the economy. These PSU’s though formed to provide support to the state by increasing the revenue and profit component of the state’s budget have been eating into the state’s budgetary allocations and the process continues.

The present status of almost all the PSU’s paints a very disappointing picture of the industrial sector in the State (government owned). Most of them are already incurring huge losses. The maintenance of the PSU’s is a huge burden on the State exchequer which the J&K government might not be able to bear for long.

Out of the 19 PSU’s, 7 are getting budgetary support from the State government. In the fiercely competitive industrial sector where the private players have a formidable role as the PSUs have not been able to stand up to the challenges.

What is more worrisome is the government’s callous attitude towards these loss making units. Though these PSU’s have been draining the state of its hard earned revenue the state government has failed to find a solution to take these corporations’ out of the financial crises.

Though the government in past has come to their rescue by issuing certain orders of incentives and packages, these corporations have utterly failed to perform.

One of the prime concerns is the mismanagement these PSU’s are faced with. The PSU’s management has been handed over to blue eyed babus and non-professional people which has greatly contributed in the declining of business turnover.

The J&K Industries Limited (JKI), a State owned company incorporated in October, 1963 is faced with a liability of more than 600 crores. This corporation with huge assets could not overcome the loses by diversifying these assets towards profitable activities.

The J&K Minerals Ltd has also incurred huge loses and has also failed to utilize the resources available with it. The mineral deposits at various places in the state have also not been exploited by the said PSU. Similarly, the J&K Small Scale Industries Development Corporation as on March 31, 2017, even after having claiming a huge business turn over, has been rendered cashless and profitless.

The list is endless, Jammu and Kashmir Cements Ltd (JKCL), Jammu and Kashmir State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (J&K SIDCO) and other PSU’s have the same story to tell.

What has been missing in the PSU’s is that they have failed to cope with the requirements of the market and to adopt a proactive administrative approach mixed with judicious resource management to achieve efficient results.

The management of these PSU’s has not bothered to conduct the audits with professional advice about overcoming their shortcomings to face the competitive markets. The top boses of these PSU’s need to inculcate modern and innovative marketing practices, besides creating an e-marketing platform to survive in today’s competitive markets.

The need is for formulation of effective working plan with adoption of innovative measures for generation of revenue in a better way and to re-double efforts towards making the Corporations more viable. Otherwise, the 1500 odd workforce will soon be out on the streets seeking justice.

Guest