The Centre, on Friday, proposed a financial assistance of Rs 19,439 crore to Central Public Sector Enterprises, which have outlined investments of Rs 2,14,970 crore in the next fiscal.

“The government proposes to provide Rs 16,436 crore as equity support and Rs 3,003 crore as loans to the CPSEs,” said Finance Minister P Chidambaram in his Budget speech in Parliament. He said as of now 44 CPSEs are listed on stock exchanges and more such firms would be encouraged to raise funds from the public.

“It is the policy of the government to list more CPSEs in order to unlock their true value and improve corporate governance,” the minister said.

The government extended Rs 19,635-crore support to the CPSEs in the current fiscal, according to the revised plan outlay of state-run firms.

Internal resources

According to the Budget estimates of 2008-09, resources of public enterprises are to the tune of Rs 1,95,531 crore. Of this, internal resources account for Rs 1,11,197 crore, bonds and debentures Rs 41,811 crore and through ECB and suppliers credit Rs 15,903 crore. CPSEs earned a net profit of Rs 81,550 crore in 2006-07, with oil firms ONGC, IOC and telecom monolith BSNL together bringing in 34 per cent of the amount, as per the Public Enterprises Survey 2006-07. Their contribution to GDP stood at 8.23 per cent during the year.

According to Budget estimates for 2008-09, resources of public enterprises have increased to Rs 1,95,531.04 crore as against Rs 1,43,667.73 crore in the revised estimates of the current year. The internal resources of the PSUs are also seeing a quantum jump at Rs 1,11,197.6 crore for 2008-09 as against Rs 88,303.84 crore in the current year, indicating improved performance of these enterprises.

CPSEs under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology are planning an investment of Rs 21,331.74 crore in 2008-09, while investments lined up by public-sector petroleum and natural gas companies are to the tune of Rs 46,540 crore. Power firms have a total plan outlay of Rs 34,760.1 crore for the next fiscal.

Scope further said growth impetus for the public sector would come from increased allocation for Bharat Nirman. The budget proposes to boost agriculture and health sector, besides setting up a national-level power sector Transmission and Distribution Reform Fund, it added.