State PSUs drain Rs 31,000 cr from exchequer

The State Level Public Enterprises (SLPE) drained the exchequer of Rs 31,548 crore in 2006-07, with the Karnataka government doling out the maximum grants at Rs 6,140 crore to its PSUs.

The State Level Public Enterprises (SLPEs) in West Bengal bled the most, losing Rs 439.53 crore, the National Survey on SLPEs for 2006-07 said.

The survey, which was released earlier this month, found Delhi SLPEs also suffering losses of Rs 143.49 crore. Other states where these units were not doing well included Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Meghalaya.

"In view of the losses being incurred by SLPEs, the state governments have been giving grants and subsidies to them to tide over their financial problems," the survey said.

The states which give huge grants to these companies include Andhra Pradesh (Rs 4,975 crore), Tamil Nadu (Rs 4,219 crore), Haryana (Rs 3,807 crore), Gujarat (Rs 3,383 crore), Maharashtra (Rs 2,727 crore), Punjab (Rs 1,505 crore) and Rajasthan (Rs 1,254 crore).

In all, there were 837 functional SLPEs as on March 31, 2007, employing 18 lakh employees, the survey said.