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CAG DISCLOSURE
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CAPITAL INFUSION
Cumulative investment of Rs 561 crore in statutory corporations, rural banks, joint stock companies and co-operatives in 5 years
DIVIDEND YIELD
Just Rs 86 lakh from the State-owned corporations and companies, a miniscule 0.15 per-cent return on Rs 561 crore investment
FINANCIAL IMPRUDENCE
Shares of some blue chip companies which belonged to Hospicio Trust could not earn the government any return because it has failed to transfer the acquired shares to its name
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PANAJI: A paltry 0.15 per-cent return on a cumulative investment of Rs 561 crore in statutory corporations, rural banks, joint stock companies and co-operatives has earned the Goa government a rap from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India. In 2016-17 the State received just Rs 86 lakh as dividends pay backs from the State-owned corporations and companies, which is a miniscule 0.15 per-cent return on the Rs 561 crore that the government invested in these entities over the years.
In the five-year period between 2012-13 and 2016-17, these corporations paid back dividends to the government at an average rate of 0.28 per-cent, the CAG noted while pointing out that funds borrowed by the government were costing an average of between 7.09 to 7.69 per-cent.
Successive governments have for decades treated the state-owned corporations as bodies to accommodate MLAs left out in cabinet formations and important political functionaries of the ruling party.
This practice has been severely criticized by industry and professional bodies in the past but to little effect. Corporations like the Kadamba Transport Corporation among others, whose nature of operations is purely commercial, have been reporting operational losses continuously for several years.
Rather than getting healthy returns, the state government on the contrary has been regularly infusing more capital in some of these corporations and companies. In 2016-17 for instance, the government increased its share capital by Rs 31.42 crore in two corporations - the Goa Information Technology Corporation (25 crore) and the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (Rs 5 crores).
In another glaring case of financial imprudence, the CAG has pointed out the lapse of the government in failing to transfer in its name high-value shares of companies it acquired by virtue of its taking over the Margao Hospicio Trust.
Shares of companies like Associated Cement Company, Mahindra and Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Bombay Dyeing, BSES among others which belonged to the Hospicio Trust could not earn the government any return because it has failed to transfer the acquired shares to its name, the CAG pointed out. The loss, however, has not been quantified by the CAG.
