Top officials from public sector companies may meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh within a fortnight to discuss the challenges faced by the sector, Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Praful Patel said on Tuesday.

This meeting, arranged by the Ministry, will be similar to the Prime Minister’s recent interactions with top honchos in the private sector.

Like the private sector CEOs, public sector chiefs feel they must also get an opportunity to meet the Prime Minister and other top Government officials to resolve their issues, said Patel on the sidelines of an All-India Management Association event.

“We will take this up with the honourable Prime Minister and arrange a meeting for the public sector heads to discuss the various issues facing them and also to see how the CPSEs (Central Public Sector Enterprises) can be better performers and truly global,” he said.

Financial autonomy

Patel added that it is the Ministry’s constant “endeavour” to give state-owned firms more financial autonomy.

“They have certain caps on spending and investment. We would like to see that it is further expanded and liberalised so that they are able to operate much more freely in an ever changing world,” Patel said.

A Maharatna company’s board need not seek the Government’s permission for investments up to Rs 5,000 crore in a joint venture project or wholly-owned subsidiary. For a Navratna CPSE, this limit is fixed at Rs 1,000 crore.

On divestment of state-owned firms, Patel added that “the time is not right” as companies will not get correct valuations.

roudra.b@thehindu.co.in

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