Consultants For Psus Asked To Perform
Consultants identifying joint venture partners for public sector undertakings (PSUs) have been warned their mandate will be taken away if they fail to perform.
This was communicated to the consultants, including ICICI, SBI Caps, IDBI, ISec, Coopers & Lybrand, by the minister of state for industry, Sukhbir Singh Badal. He emphasised the need to achieve time-bound results in locating joint venture partners for PSUs.
"There is a view that if one consultant fails to identify suitable partners within a given time-frame, the mandate should be given to another consultant," an official said.
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Earlier, reviewing work done, Badal advised the consultants to put greater effort into making the joint venture formation exercise a success.
He will keep tabs on the consultants' performance and such reviews will be undertaken regularly.
PSUs where action has already been initiated for joint venture formation were covered in this review.
These included Andrew Yule, Bharat Leather Corporation, Bharat Pumps and Compressors, Cement Corporation of India, Hindustan Cables, HMT's bearing and tractor divisions, Hindustan Photo Films, Hindustan Salts, Mandya National Paper Mills, Sambhar Salts and Tungabhadra Steel Products.
The department of heavy industry recently shortlisted 23 PSUs under its purview for joint venture formation and appointed consultants for 14 of them.
Selecting consultants for the remaining nine PSUs is under way.
In their presentations to Badal, the consultants gave details of work done, the methodology adopted and future plans.
They said in a number of cases there was a strong possibility of locating partners who could bring in technology, modern management techniques, marketing strengths and infusion of funds.
Badal also instructed the department officials to monitor the joint venture formation process very closely on a regular basis so that the process could be speeded up.
He promised the consultants all-possible assistance to enable them to complete their assignments successfully.