Orissa to list OMC, OHPC in stock exchange

The Orissa government will list two of its profit making public undertakings-Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) and Orissa Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) in the stock exchange.

This was announced by state finance minister Prafulla Ghadai after review of performance of state PSUs here.

Ghadai said, out of 32 state-owned companies, 24 were making profit. Of these, OMC and OHPC were most profit making with last reported profits of Rs 716.86 crore and Rs 27.14 crore respectively in 2009-10.

The government has divided all PSUs into four categories-Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze depending on their profitability, net worth, asset base and updated audit. Both OMC and OHPC have been put under the Platinum category.

The minister warned the loss making PSUs to tighten their belt and improve performance. Those companies whose net worth has eroded due to continuous losses will be put on the block for disinvestment, he added.

Ghadai said, the state enterprises will be given more functional autonomy in the field of management, employment and financial and commercial decisions with induction of professionals and technocrats as directors.

Similarly, the government has decided to assist the PSUs in computerisation of their operation while introducing voluntary retirement schemes wherever required.

All the PSUs have been asked to sign MoUs with their respective line department setting performance targets every year. Ten companies have already inked such pacts and the rest are expected to complete the process by the end of this month.

The minister rued that only 21state PSUs have updated their audit figures upto 2009-10. The rest have been asked to update their audit by the end of this year.