The PSUs are always ridiculed as making losses, a burden on the government and the tax-payers etc. and demanding that they should be privatised. This is the policy of the government in line with its neo-liberal directions.
But what is the truth? A good number of PSUs are profit-making and a good amount is paid to the government as Dividend by these companies. The government has got Rs. 55,000 crore Dividend for the year 2012-13 from the PSUs and it expects Rs. 73,000 crore this year. The dividend paid by the top 10 PSUs for 2012-13 is given below:
Coal India : Rs.8842.9 crore
ONGC : Rs. 8,127.7 crore
NTPC : Rs. 4,741.1 crore
SBI : Rs. 2,838.7 crore
NMDC : Rs. 2,775.3 crore
Oil India : Rs. 1,803.4 crore
IOC : Rs. 1,505.3 crore
BHEL : Rs. 1,323.0 crore
Power Grid : Rs. 1,273.1 crore
GAIL : Rs. 1,217.7 crore
Now, the Finance Minister has again called upon the PSUs to give more % of Dividend to the Government. This is but nothing trying to cripple the PSUs, as it has already in the case of BSNL by taking away all the surplus of the company by hook or crook.
The anti-PSU policy and actions of the government should be thoroughly exposed and the PSUs strengthened.