Building Blocks Of The Nation

The Public Sector Units (PSU) were initiated by the Indian government during the Nehruvian Era to play a significant role in terms of job creation, social welfare, and overall economic growth of the nation.

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Nehru even referred to them as the Temples of Modern India. With a responsibility of making India self sufficient, the initial strategy was to accelerate the growth of the remote and underdeveloped areas of the country. But in this process, the PSUs also managed to gain profit where companies like SAIL, ONGC and IOCL are some of the largest commercial enterprises in India now. The importance of the PSUs in India during the recession of 2008 was recognized even more when the nationalized banks and the PSUs  continued to contribute to India’s emerging status as a growing economic power. And with the advent of liberalised economy, the public sector has let go of its lethargy and started functioning in a way that today there is healthy competition between it and the private sector. 

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has nurtured several successful PSUs under its administration which are multinational oil and gas establishments now. GAIL and ONGC are two such prominent names in this regard. Set up in 1984, it is India’s principal gas transmission and marketing company now and has reached new milestones with its strategic diversification into petrochemicals, telecom and liquid hydrocarbons besides gas infrastructure. ONGC on the other hand produces as much as 70% of the country’s crude oil and around 62% of its natural gas.

Again, in May 2018, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) become India’s most profitable state-owned company for the second consecutive year, it is also the largest commercial enterprise in the country and its domain stretches from entire hydrocarbon value-chain, including refining, pipeline transportation, marketing of petroleum products, exploration and production of crude oil, natural gas and petrochemicals.