Public sector undertakings (PSUs) have come to play an increasingly important role in the country?s export performance. This is revealed by an analysis of the export and foreign exchange earnings performance of the 50 PSUs during the last three years, that is, from 2008-09 to 2010-11.
These PSUs accounted for roughly 4% of the country?s export earnings in ?10-11.
The PSUs? foreign exchange earnings increased by 11.4% last year against a mere 2.5% growth a year before, in ?09-10.
In absolute terms, the PSUs’ forex earnings increased from R43,208 crore during ?08-09 to R44,271 crore during ?09-10 and R49,311 crore during ?10-11.
The free-on-board (FOB) value of exports also steadily increased from R42,287 crore to R48,490 crore during the three-year period.
The forex earnings-to-net sales ratio increased from 4.48% during ?08-09 to 4.85% during ?09-10 and decreased thereafter to 4.45% during ?10-11.
Total FOB value of exports as a percentage of sales for the 50 PSUs was lower at 4.37% in ?10-11 against 4.39% in ?08-09.
Another feature is that three PSUs, namely Gujarat Alkalies, Nalco and TN Newsprint exported (FOB value) more than 10% of their sales during ?10-11.
In value terms, exports more than doubled for three PSUs, namely GNFC, Hind Organic Chemicals and Mysore Paper.
Six PSUs?IOCL, BPCL, HPCL, ONGC , MMTC and Nalco?made exports of more than R3,000 crore during ?10-11. Among these PSUs, the maximum growth in exports was seen with BPCL followed by IOCL.
Among the 50 PSUs, forex earnings growth turned out to be positive during 2010-11 for 13 PSUs, notable among them are IOCL, MMTC, SAIL, BEML and Hindustan Copper. There was 23.5% growth in IOCL?s forex earnings compared to a negative growth of 8.1% during 2009-10.
An opposite trend was seen in the case of HPCL, RCF, Oil India and Petronet LNG. HPCL saw a decline of 13.5% in its forex earnings during 2010-11 compared to a positive growth of 6% during 2009-10.