Annual Public Enterprises Survey | 12 Aug 2021

Why in News

Recently, the 60^th Public Enterprises (PE) Survey 2019-20 was released by the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), Ministry of Finance.

• It is the single largest source of information on Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) and acts as a basis for informed policy making.
• The government has reallocated the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) to the finance ministry from the ministry of heavy industries.

Key Points

• About Public Enterprises (PE) Survey:
  
  • PE Survey is a 100% enumeration of the CPSE universe. It captures essential statistical data for all CPSEs on various financial and physical parameters.
  • PE Survey divides CPSEs into five sectors namely:
    
    • Agriculture,
    • Mining & Exploration,
    • Manufacturing, Processing & Generation,
    • Services,
    • Enterprises Under Construction.
  • The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) started bringing out the Public Enterprises Survey from the financial year 1960-61 on the recommendations of the Estimates Committee of the 2^nd Lok Sabha, 73^rd report (1959-60).
• About DPE And CPSEs:
  • DPE is the nodal department for all the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) and formulates policy pertaining to CPSEs.
  • According to DPE, CPSEs mean those Government companies, besides Statutory Corporations, wherein more than 50% of the share in equity is held by the Central Government.
    • The subsidiaries of these companies, if registered in India, are also categorized as CPSEs.
    • It does not cover departmentally run public enterprises, banking institutions and insurance companies.
  • CPSEs are classified into 3 categories namely Maharatna, Navratna and Miniratna.
    • Presently, there are 10 Maharatna, 14 Navratna and 74 Miniratna CPSEs.

• Role of Central Public Sector Enterprises:
  • CPSEs in India have a twin objective of commercial efficiency and social responsibility.
    • Besides contributing to the Government income, they discharge social obligations through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities.
  • The idea of CPSEs was conceived to eradicate the accumulated problems of:
    • Unemployment,
    • Rural-urban disparity,
    • Inter-regional and inter-class disparities,
    • Technological backwardness.
  • CPSEs envisage to develop the public sector as an instrument for self-reliant economic growth.
  • Before India got independence, it had only a few CPSEs.
    • These included the Railways, Post and Telegraph, Port trusts, Ordnance factories, etc.
    • Most CPSEs were set up after independence when the private sector had limited capacity for large capital intensive enterprises.
  • Challenge: The challenge for these enterprises arises out of the need for them to ensure a reasonable return on investment, while discharging their constitutional and social obligations.
• Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan - Contribution by CPSEs:
  • The CPSEs have taken a range of initiatives as part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan towards meeting the Government of India’s ‘self-reliant India’ agenda.
  • The initiatives include policy reforms, strategic partnerships, administrative actions, operational realignment and capacity building.
  • The initiatives by the CPSEs can be divided under five broad categories as shown below:
    • Enhancing local capacity to support Government’s larger strategic objectives.
    • Promotion of cooperation between CPSEs to explore synergies.
    • Providing a platform for greater participation of domestic firms/MSMEs.
    • Rationalising import dependency to ensure long term sustainability.
    • Development of indigenous technology and promoting technology transfer to CPSEs.

Source: PIB