statesman news service
KOLKATA, 8 JUNE: Chairman of the Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE), apex body of PSEs in India, Mr CS Verma, who is also chairman, Steel Authority of India Ltd, today held a meeting with the chief executives/directors and senior executives of SCOPE member PSEs based in the eastern region to identify issues of concern in the eastern region PSEs.
Mr Verma said the industrial environment in the country was very dynamic and more functional and operational autonomy should be given to the PSEs to face global competition.
Chief executives and other senior executives of PSEs present at the meeting were of the opinion that SCOPE should emerge as a more effective voice of PSEs to take up issues of enhanced functional autonomy of PSEs.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr Verma said SCOPE is mulling setting up of an independent training institute for the PSEs.
“There was a good suggestion for setting up an institute for entry level and middle level management employees of public sector enterprises and we will look into it,” Mr Verma said.
Out of the total 220 operational PSEs in India 35 are in the eastern region. Besides, the total turnover of the PSEs of this region was Rs 1,22,117 crore. Of the 35, 12 are in the red with a total loss of Rs 1429 crore. The total employment is 2,80,484 people.
Mr Verma, after taking over recently as chairman of SCOPE, has taken the initiative of activating the regional chapters of SCOPE to evolve a consensus and agenda of common issues affecting their performance and competitiveness.
SCOPE would undertake an international study on the functioning of effective PSEs in different countries and will develop the best model for PSEs in the country to keep pace with the changes taking place across the world, he added.
Some of the other issues which emerged during deliberations included professional functioning of the boards, including the independent directors, succession planning and skill development in PSEs.
A large number of chief executives/directors and senior executives of eastern region PSEs attended the meeting and deliberated on the issues being faced by these enterprises in this region of the country.
SAIL-Kobe JV in Durgapur on
KOLKATA, 8 JUNE: Steel major SAIL today said it was going ahead with its joint venture with Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel to set up an iron ore nugget plant in Durgapur at an investment of Rs 1,500 crore for which environment assessment study is on.
“The SAIL-Kobe Steel JV in Durgapur is on. This will be the second such project in the world after the USA. The JV agreement has been finalised”, SAIL chairman Mr CS Verma told reporters here. He said it would take five to six months to complete the environment assessment. Mr Verma said the proposed plant would produce 0.5 million tons of iron ore nugget per annum.
On the modernisation of Burnpur-based IISCO steel plant, Mr Verma said post-modernisation the plant would have a capacity of 2.5 million tons. The sinter plant at IISCO has gone into production, while the coke oven plant has become operational. The wire rod mill in the plant has gone on stream for which slabs were being sourced from SAIL’s Durgapur Steel Plant.
The blast furnace and converter would now be commissioned and the modernisation would be completed by December this year, he said.
Asked about SAIL’s proposed joint venture with RITES to reopen Kulti works, he said: “We have yet to register the land. No firm investment decision has been taken.” pti