The Hindu : Make PSEs perform well, says President

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 06, 2003

National

National

Make PSEs perform well, says President

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI April 5. The President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, today urged the chief executive officers (CEOs) of public sector enterprises to change their management style so that they become high performance industries with the aim of achieving nine per cent economic growth by 2020.

He called upon these enterprises to become global multinationals by developing strong and interactive competitive linkages. It would be a great resurgence for the country's manufacturing, marketing and maintenance services while providing challenging jobs and opportunities for the youth, he said.

Addressing the CEOs conference organised by the Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE), he said the aim was to transform India into a developed nation by 2020. This meant that 260 million people should be lifted above the poverty line. For this purpose, the integrated development of five areas would result in doubling the GDO growth rate to nine per cent. These five areas are agriculture and food processing, reliable and quality electric power for all parts of the country, education and healthcare, information technology and strategic areas including nuclear, space and defence technologies.

Referring to the restructuring and disinvestment of the public sector, Dr. Kalam recalled the historic role of the public sector companies in the post-independence era. "We have drawn our economic and industrial strength from the shop floors of these PSEs. But we all have to change," he said. Pointing to the fact than many big industrial complexes were in the red due to the absence of technology upgradation, he said proactive measures were needed for their resurrection. In this context, he said the management styles of public sector companies had to change as a function of typical high performance industries.

On the need for competitiveness, he said that in many areas like hospitals and computers, large parts of equipment were imported. Very few were manufactured here while industrial growth was "crawling upwards''. Therefore, PSEs should work together and help each other to achieve world class manufacturing facilities in the country.

Dr. Kalam said India had vast natural and human resources and with value addition, the country could achieve the status of a developed nation. "Technology and knowledge would play an important role in value addition to our core competence of natural and human resources, a must for achieving our vision of 202," he added.

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