Changing role of Public Sector

NEW DELHI: At the time of independence in 1947, India had just five central public sector enterprises with an investment of mere Rs 29 crore. Besides, perhaps India had fairly reasonable network of railways and extensive Posts and Telegraph covering the entire country to serve the British masters. 

 

Today India has 320 central public enterprises with investment of around Rs 12 lakh crore. As many as 165 CPSEs earned a net profit of about Rs 1.5 lakh crore and 78 CPSEs, a net loss of Rs 29,000 crore. There is, perhaps, double the number of state public enterprises. The statistics is sketchy with regard to total number of state public enterprises and their investments. But indication is that there are at least 1000 state public enterprises with investment of Rs 4-5 lakh crore. That apart there are central and state corporations, particularly, by way of railways, state road corporations, posts and so on. Investments in them run in to several lakh crores of rupees. 

 

So it is clear that Public Sector Enterprises formed the backbone of industrial development of the country in Independent India. Of course, its role has been changing with the changing time. Initially its role was to help create the much needed industrial base and infrastructure apart from bringing about price stabilization and socio-economic development. They were also engine of growth in true sense of the term.