The investments by as many as 18 state-run firms under the heavy industry ministry are halved to Rs 4.37 billion for 2018-19 as compared to Rs 8.83 billion budgeted for the current fiscal. The government had estimated an expenditure of Rs 3.74 billion for the 18 PSUs, including BHEL, Cement Corporation of India and Hindustan Salts in the revised estimate of 2017-18. According to the Expenditure Budget, the government had budgeted Rs 3.7 billion for state-run power equipment maker BHEL in the current financial year, which was revised downwards to Rs 2.96 billion, and has been further slashed to Rs 2.25 billion in the 2018-19. The investment by Cement Corporation of India is pegged at Rs 422.8 million in 2018-19, higher than the revised budget estimate of Rs 22.17 crore in the current fiscal ending March, according to the Budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The government plans to sell non-operational units of Cement Corporation. It is important to note that some of these PSUs like Hindustan Cables, or their subsidiaries (in case of HMT Ltd) are under closure, while some like NEPA are being revived and those like Scooters India may be up for strategic sale. Therefore, the expenditure budgeted for Hindustan Cables, which is being wound up, has been slashed to almost nil in 2018-19, whereas investments by the company had been budgeted at Rs 2.43 billion in the present fiscal.
