Going the
HMT watches way: Govt shortlists 10 worst performing PSUs, set to axe some
The obituaries have already been
written for erstwhile 'timekeepers of the nation' HMT watches, but it turns
out the government may be planning on fast tracking the shutting down of some
other major loss making public sector companies as well despite it risking a
potential showdown with trade unions.
According to a Reuters report, cabinet secretary Ajit
Seth will be meeting with top officials today to consider what to do with the
ten worst performing public sector units that have run up combined losses worth
Rs 24,500 crore as on last year.
A note prepared by the Department of Public Enterprises reportedly
lists BSNL, MTNL, Air India, Hindustan Photofilms, Hindustan
Fertilisers, and HMT watches among them.
So while the government may have drawn up a a phased Rs 30,000 crore
rescue plan and is working on the merger of MTNL and BSNL to be completed by next
year, others like film roll manufacturer Hindustan Photofilms and HMT watches
are likely to be axed.
"There is no future for this company in the current
environment. It is a fit case for winding down," said a government
official at the Department of Public Enterprises, which is overseeing the
privatisation of state firms. The official did not wish to be named due to the
sensitivity of the matter.
A public sector company based in Ooty that was set up in 1960,
Hindustan Photo Films is under the Department of Heavy Industry claims on its
website that it is "the only integrated manufacturer of Photo
sensitised goods in the whole of South East Asia".
Among the products it manufactures includes medical diagnostic
films, industrial X-ray films, graphic arts films for the printing sector,
Bromide paper and roll films for photography, aerial Film for the defence
sector and inkjet papers.
Hindustan Photo Films Ltd, which employed over 714 employees as on
31 March, 2012, was declared sick by the Board for Industrial and Financial
Reconstruction in 1996. The firm, with consultants, had come up with a recovery
plan that hasn't been acted on by the government
The government in February this year approved a Rs 181 crore voluntary retirement scheme package
for employees based on notional pay scales of 2007.
It, however, isn't clear if any of the other companies that
find their way on to the Department of Public Enterprises note will also face
the axe just yet and the government is bracing for opposition from the trade
unions.
Officials said the government was also looking for ways to revive
some of the sick companies through capital infusion, joint ventures and by
bringing in new management.
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