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Public Sector Undertakings in India

Government-owned entities in India

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Following India's independence in 1947, the limited pre-existing industries were insufficient for sustainable economic growth. The Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956, adopted during the Second Five-Year Plan, laid the framework for PSUs. The government initially prioritized strategic sectors, such as communication, irrigation, chemicals, and heavy industries, followed by the nationalisation of corporations. PSUs subsequently expanded into consumer goods production and service areas like contracting, consulting, and transportation. Their goals include increasing exports, reducing imports, fostering infrastructure development, driving economic growth, and generating job opportunities. Each PSU has its own recruitment rules and employment in PSUs is highly sought after in India due to high pay and its job security, with most preferring candidates with a GATE score. These jobs are very well known for very high pay scale compared to other Government jobs such as UPSC, facilities such as bungalow, pensions and other subsidized facility and for also very good planned townships settlement life. A PSU non-executives such as workers have a huge payscale difference compared to private sector.

In 1951, there were five PSUs under the ownership of the government. By March 2021, the number of such government entities had increased to 365. These government entities represented a total investment of about ₹16,410,000,000,000 as of 31 March 2019. Their total paid-up capital as of 31 March 2019 stood at about ₹200.76 lakh crore. CPSEs have earned a revenue of about ₹24,430,000,000,000 + ₹1,000,000,000,000 during the financial year 2018–19.

History

Soviet model

When India achieved independence in 1947, it was primarily an agrarian entity, with a weak industrial base. There were only eighteen state-owned Indian Ordnance Factories, previously established to reduce the dependency of the British Indian Army on imported arms.

The British Raj had previously elected to leave agricultural production to the Private sector, with tea processing firms, jute mills (such as the Acland Mill), railways, electricity utilities, banks, coal mines, and steel mills being just some of the economic entities largely owned by private individuals like the industrialist Jamsetji Tata. Other entities were listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Critics of private ownership of India's agricultural and industrial entities—most notably Mahatma Gandhi's independence movement—instead advocated for a self-sufficient, largely agrarian, communal village-based existence for India in the first half of the 20th century. Other contemporary criticisms of India's public sector targeted the lack of well-funded schools, public libraries, universities, hospitals and medical and engineering colleges; a lack seen as impeding an Indian replication of Britain's own industrialization in the previous century.

Post-Independence, the national consensus turned in favor of rapid industrialisation of the economy, a process seen as the key to economic development, improved living standards and economic sovereignty. Building upon the Bombay Plan, which noted the necessity of government intervention and regulation in the economy, the first Industrial Policy Resolution announced in 1948 laid down in broad strokes such a strategy of industrial development. Later, the Planning Commission was formed by a cabinet resolution in March 1950 and the Industrial (Development and Regulation) Act was enacted in 1951 with the objective of empowering the government to take necessary steps to regulate industry.

The first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, promoted an economic policy based on import substitution industrialisation and advocated a mixed economy. He believed that the establishment of basic and heavy industry was fundamental to the development and modernisation of the Indian economy. India's second five year plan (1956–60) and the Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956 emphasized the development of public sector enterprises to meet Nehru's national industrialisation policy. His vision was carried forward by V. Krishnamurthy, a figure known as the "Father of Public sector undertakings in India". Indian statistician Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis was instrumental to its formulation, which was later termed the Feldman–Mahalanobis model.

In 1969, Indira Gandhi's government nationalised fourteen of India's largest private banks, and an additional six in 1980. This government-led industrial policy, with corresponding restrictions on private enterprise, was the dominant pattern of Indian economic development until the 1991 Indian economic crisis. After the crisis, the government began divesting its ownership of several PSUs to raise capital and privatize companies facing poor financial performance and low efficiency.

Rise of Dirigisme after 1991 reforms

After liberalisation in 1991, India shifted from a mixed planned led Soviet model to a more market-oriented dirigisme economy with indicative planning. The 1991 reforms led to formation of pseudo-state owned companies by Government of India such as NSE, NSDL, CRISIL, IL&FS, IDFC etc. which were joint-venture of Public Sector Undertakings(PSUs) and controlling stake(>25%) owned by PSUs as a protectionist policy to lead the market reforms instead of invisible free-hand of free market.The Eighth Five Year Plan (1992 - 1997) adopted Indicative Planning in India. The Eighth Five Year Plan (1992 - 1997) managed the transition from a centrally planned economy to a market led economy through indicative planning and public sector.According to government data, 96 new CPSEs were incorporated between 2014 and 2022.

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