The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has asked the finance ministry to spell out a clear legal strategy, including options such as a "golden share" or indirect control structures, to maintain strategic oversight in public sector entities if state ownership falls below 51 per cent.
Seasoned bureaucrat and a stickler for rules Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey will be at the helm of capital market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), for three years. The 1987-batch Odisha-cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Pandey, would replace Madhabi Puri Buch, whose three-year term ends on Friday.
This will be the first full-year Budget of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government since it came to power for a third consecutive term in July last year.
'The FSIB will conduct interviews for the SBI chairman position on May 21-22 as the tenure of the current chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara is scheduled to end by August.'
Once the iconic red-brick building of British India Corporation (BICL), which manufactured the popular "Lal-Imli" brand of woollen products, made Cawnpore (now Kanpur) the Manchester of the East. In the 75th year of independence, the government may finally pull the curtains on the century-old, now defunct public sector enterprise. "The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has floated a draft cabinet note for closure of British India Corporation (BICL) along with National Textiles Corporation (NTC). "The Cabinet may soon tak
The Centre is in "mission mode" to fill vacancies in government departments and ministries. The Department of Expenditure is currently following up with other wings of the government to expedite pending appointments. Regular follow-ups are being made to fill the vacant positions, so that the stated target of eliminating 1 million vacancies is met by December 2023, ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections. Even as the nodal ministry for filling vacant positions in the government is the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the Department of Expenditure's Establishment Coordination (Personnel) division is providing support for the recruitment drive.
The ED had arrested Chatterjee, who is also the Trinamool Congress secretary-general, on July 23 in connection with its investigation into alleged irregularities in the recruitment drives by the School Service Commission.
The government has merged the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) with the finance ministry to give it a better control over state-owned firms and facilitate its ambitious privatisation programme. Finance ministry will now have six departments while DPE's hereto parent ministry, the ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises will now be called the ministry of heavy industries. Previously, the disinvestment ministry - created under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government - was merged with the finance ministry and is now a department under it. Also, Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) was abolished and administration of foreign investments was given to the finance ministry (FinMin).
The Centre is looking to improve disclosures made by public sector undertakings (PSUs), and has asked such companies to share monthly progress made on capital expenditure targets and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives undertaken by them. New details such as gender-wise reporting of contractual workers, unused land, and profit share in joint venture companies have also been added in the list of disclosures. The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), which publishes the Public Enterprises Survey and collects information for Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) signed with PSUs, is looking to integrate data collected from government-owned companies.
Senior bureaucrat Tarun Bajaj was appointed revenue secretary as part of a top-level bureaucratic reshuffle by the Centre on Tuesday.
The number of times public sector undertakings (PSUs) have held conference calls with investors, their capital management, and debt financing are among the parameters that the Centre will use to judge their performance for the first time, a senior official in the know said. The government will evaluate PSUs for FY22 based on new parameters that were finalised by the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) in consultation with the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) last year, the official said. The government had included more conditions in the memorandum of understandings (MoUs) - used to set annual targets - that public sector enterprises sign with the DPE every year. These included a consistent dividend policy, which seeks to transfer dividends by PSUs every quarter; and market capitalisation or share price improvement over the sectoral index on an annual average basis for listed companies.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday pitched for front loading of capital expenditure, saying it is critical for revitalisting the economy post the coronavirus pandemic. During a virtual meeting with senior government officials to discuss the infrastructure roadmap ahead, she also asked ministries to aim to achieve more than their capital expenditure (capex) targets. The Union Budget 2021-22 provided a capital outlay of Rs.5.54 lakh crore, a sharp increase of 34.5 per cent over the Budget Estimate of 2020-21.
"Wheresoever public money is involved, there should be responsibility, autonomy and a monitoring system," said Department of Public Enterprises Secretary R Bandyopadhyay. As is the case with the CPSEs, the state level public enterprises would also be given targets in conformity with the long-term mission and vision of the enterprises. There are about 1,000 SLPEs which the Centre feels can show improvement if the monitoring mechanism is strengthened & accountability enhanced.
Earlier this year, the Union Cabinet gave the management of state-run companies the freedom to decide on divesting their subsidiaries. However, the very next day a meeting was held at the top level of the Government of India, for the presentation of proposals for more autonomy for state-run companies. Interestingly, no chiefs of any of these companies were invited. It is a problem that will stare the government in the face with the state-owned banks too, as talks have again begun for inviting strategic investments in these companies.
Strengthening the portfolios of the home minister and the finance minister is a message that should not be missed, points out A K Bhattacharya.
The government is expected to infuse Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) into Scooters India shortly as the Cabinet approval is there in place for revival, said O P Rawat, Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises.
Cash-rich PSUs like NTPC, BHEL, SAIL, ONGC and IOC which will issue bonus shares, largely accruing to the government, may get a better annual performance appraisal.
As per the well-established system, all the 249 public sector units are to sign a memorandum of understanding with their administrative ministries, setting the performance targets which are reviewed at the end of the fiscal year.
There is money to buy the central public sector enterprises, but buyers will need a firm assurance that the disvestment programme will keep environment issues front and centre of their corporate plans.
The idea is to do away with the need for the approval of the Core Group of Secretaries on Divestment for privatisation of companies, especially in non-strategic sectors.
Khara will replace SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar, whose three-year term comes to an end on October 7.
Companies such as Tata Sons and Bharti Telecom, which are unlisted but have listed subsidiaries, may soon have to file periodic financial statements with the registrar of companies under the new provision of the Companies Act. The provision requires greater financial disclosures by a certain category of unlisted companies.
Corporate social responsibility for a state-owned firm may no more be a "photo opportunity" for its chairman but would involve people-centric projects to be funded by 2-5 per cent of the company's net profits.
The government has asked central PSUs to sponsor the Commonwealth Games even as state-owned firms, including the Railways, have already committed Rs 200 crore (rs 2 billion) for a "good cause".
The government has now made it "practically impossible" for political appointees to find a place on the boards of the public sector units (PSUs) as independent directors (IDs), a top official said.
The government is reviewing a proposal by an expert group to lower the weightage to financial parameters of central public sector enterprises while fixing their overall annual targets.
Unwilling to compromise autonomy for a hefty pay hike announced on Thursday, several PSUs chiefs on Friday conveyed displeasure to the government over a directive asking them not to create senior posts in their units without the approval of their administrative ministries.
Dept. of Public Enterprises have reminded CPSEs to invest surplus money only in govt-owned MFs.
His tenure will end in December this year.
In the wake of opposition from the law ministry and the Department of Public Enterprises, the petroleum ministry
Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has blamed bureaucrats in his ministry for the fiasco over appointment of additional government directors on ONGC board, saying legal opinion should have been taken instead of doing 'guess-work'.
Giving a shot in the arm to ONGC chairman Subir Raha, who has been resisting appointment of additional government directors on the company board, the department of public enterprises on Wednesday said their number cannot exceed two.
Indian Oil Corporation on Friday said it has launched a voluntary retirement scheme - for its surplus employees - that is valid till December 31, 2003.
The Central government on Thursday allowed 50 per cent of its employees to work from home and the remaining to attend office every day besides implementing different time slots for working hours in its effort to further check the spread of the coronavirus disease.
The Centre has started a headcount of people of the minority community employed during the last one year in all its departments as part of review of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new 15-point programme for welfare of minorities.
Delayed submission of employees confidential report will not be a hindrance for promotion and they will be assessed on the basis of overall record and self-assessment of the year, the Centre has said.
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