Thiruvananthapuram: The industries department is aiming to make Public Sector Undertakings fully profitable, along with converting newly started ventures into those with a capital of Rs 100 crore. Considering the financial crisis, the industries department has codified proposals to bring change without relying on government funds. 

When the previous government completed its term, 20 PSUs were earning profit and 25 were in loss. The ones in profit have now increased to 23. PSUs including Kerala Rubber Limited, Kerala Paper Products Limited and KEL EML were started. Masterplan for the growth of PSUs was prepared and experts were made in charge of supervising its implementation. 

The plan is to utilise existing state and central schemes to raise funds. Discussions were held, even before the budget, with the officials from the Union Ministry of Commerce and the organisations. 

As per the data provided by the Union Ministry of Commerce, Kerala has improved its position from 15 to 13 in the list of states that received Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

The government was planning to start one lakh new enterprises this year, after announcing this financial year as the ‘Year of Enterprises’. As many as 1,22,189 enterprises have started operating so far this year. Among these, food processing enterprises and those manufacturing electronics can be converted into those with a capital of at least Rs 100 crore. 

The aim is to transform small enterprises into medium ones and medium enterprises into large ones. The budget will contain proposals based on this action plan.