After news broke that government-owned telecom firms Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
(BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) had defaulted on
paying their employees’ salaries for the month of February, an image
began circulating on social media pages and WhatsApp groups.
It was merely a collage of headlines from various news reports about cash-strapped PSUs defaulting on or delaying their employees’ salaries in various months, juxtaposed with a headline from an NDTV story about the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spending more than Rs 122 crore to contest the Karnataka assembly elections last year.
Like many other political memes and jokes that will float into our inboxes in the run-up to elections, this one is also a mix of truth and exaggeration (distinct, of course, from outright fake news)—the amount the BJP spends on advertisements and elections is certainly a matter of concern, especially considering the opaque nature of political funding in India, but that does not mean this is directly correlated to the sorry state of Indian PSUs.
It was merely a collage of headlines from various news reports about cash-strapped PSUs defaulting on or delaying their employees’ salaries in various months, juxtaposed with a headline from an NDTV story about the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spending more than Rs 122 crore to contest the Karnataka assembly elections last year.
Like many other political memes and jokes that will float into our inboxes in the run-up to elections, this one is also a mix of truth and exaggeration (distinct, of course, from outright fake news)—the amount the BJP spends on advertisements and elections is certainly a matter of concern, especially considering the opaque nature of political funding in India, but that does not mean this is directly correlated to the sorry state of Indian PSUs.
But even a cursory Google
search will show that there has, indeed, been an upsurge in the number
of news reports on cash-strapped PSUs having to hold back employee
wages. Even with the emergence of leaner, richer rivals, a government
job is much in demand in India for the benefits and stability it provides.
And while the Narendra Modi government had promised to launch schemes that would provide crores of jobs to young Indians, the numbers show that India is facing a jobs crisis.
Kris Lakshmikanth, CMD, The Head Hunters India, a CXO-level hiring firm, was quoted as saying by Firstpost that one of the reasons for the cash crunch is the various welfare schemes that the Modi government has announced in the interim budget. “To fund these schemes the government needs money from PSUs and this is impacting their finances,” he said.
And while the Narendra Modi government had promised to launch schemes that would provide crores of jobs to young Indians, the numbers show that India is facing a jobs crisis.
Kris Lakshmikanth, CMD, The Head Hunters India, a CXO-level hiring firm, was quoted as saying by Firstpost that one of the reasons for the cash crunch is the various welfare schemes that the Modi government has announced in the interim budget. “To fund these schemes the government needs money from PSUs and this is impacting their finances,” he said.
