India’s Top PSUs 2022

29 The Way Forward Indian CPSUs have weathered disruptions caused by new digital technologies as well as health and economic crisis. In all these challenging times, CPSUs have not only displayed high level of resilience but also have emerged strong, thereby continuing to serve as the backbone of the Indian economy. However, there is a long way to go for the public sector to become globally competitive. Going forward, to become globally competitive CPSUs will need to look at opportunities, scale up productivity and explore ways to benefit from web 3.0 and industrial revolution 4.0. Given the Public Sector Enterprises Policy 2021, the government intends to keep bare minimum presence in strategic sectors like energy, telecom, power, banks and minerals. Further, the new policy does not restrict entry of private sector into the strategic sectors. This implies, CPSUs would need to enhance efficiencies in their functioning to become competitive to remain relevant. In this regard it is noteworthy to see that Public Sector Banks have geared up fast and competing with the private sector. Alike private counterparts, the Public Sector Banks have invested heavily in the emerging technologies like AI, blockchain and robotic process automation which has helped them improve productivity and facilitate better customer services. On disinvestment front, the government has pegged disinvestment proceeds for FY23 at INR 650 billion lower from estimated mobilisation of INR 780 billion in FY22. In order to meet the disinvestment target, the Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers has recently unveiled a final strategy to unveil eight major CPSUs under the aegis of the ministry in a phased manner. Further, the government will continue to focus on asset monetisation of CPSUs for better management and enhancing competitiveness, which will also help unlock the value of investment made in public assets which have not yielded potential returns so far. India’s public sector acts as a catalyst for Government mission of “Aatma Nirbhar Bharat”. It can play a critical role in building local capacities, developing indigenous technologies and rationalising import dependency. Thus, as India celebrates 75th year of Independence, CPSUs can help India set on a sustainable growth to achieve 10 trillion USD economy by 2030. Dun & Bradstreet