Making The Crippled Dance: A Model For Rejuvenating The Ailing Public Sector Enterprises

Abstract

Many public sector enterprises, some owned by the central government and others owned by the state governments, are facing a crisis of survival today. This is on account of intense competition setting in by the opening of Indian economy on the one hand and the reluctance of the respective governments to support them and fund their mounting losses on the other. The concerned governments want to privatise them or wind up, if they are not performing well. Have the public sector enterprises, established over 50 years period lost their relevance now? Have they reached a point that government must think of disowning the ones not performance well? Is there a case for developing new approaches to manage public sector enterprises is general and the ailing ones in particular? This paper addresses these issues based upon intensive studies of several public sector enterprises and suggests certain measures to meet the challenge.