Pitching for a level playing field and greater autonomy for public sector units, president Pranab Mukherjee said listing of PSEs will help them to improve their performance. "Much more needs to be done to provide a level playing field between the public and private sectors in terms of flexibility of operation and quicker decision-making. A measure that can help in this process is the listing of PSEs on stock exchanges," Mukherjee said while addressing the two-day Global PSE Summit in Delhi on Friday.

As of now out of around 260 units, only 60 are listed in the stock exchanges. Mukherjee said that the listing would allow millions of small and large shareholders to participate in their (state-run firms) ownership, which could stimulate the PSEs to better their performance.

In the area of corporate social responsibility, Mukherjee said that as custodians of social development, the public sector units would need to set an example for their private sector counterparts in the backdrop of the provisions laid down in the Companies Act, 2013.

Pointing out the challenges faced by the government-run companies like increasing their competitiveness to deal with market forces, Mukherjee said, “Management has to be of the highest professional level, enabling the attainment of global benchmarks in productivity and efficiency and meeting the multiple objectives expected of contemporary global enterprise".

He further said that the managerial and commercial autonomy has been devolved in the profit-making PSEs through the scheme of maharatnas, navratnas and miniratnas.

Heavy industry and public sector enterprises minister Praful Patel said that the presence of public sector has developed many parts of the country like Assam, Haldia and Bokaro and it is a wrong perception that they are not performing well. The minister informed that out of 269 PSEs, 66 units have been termed as sick. And of these 66 units, 43 have been given approval for revival package. He also said that 24 (formerly sick) units have made profits and 13 have been turned around. “Many PSEs are performing better than the private sector. They are being managed really well. We have to acknowledge the fact that valuation of PSEs in stock market is far less than that of the private sector.” He added that the perception that PSEs are not performing well needs to be corrected.

The Global Summit has been organised by the department of public sector enterprises (DPE) in collaboration with the confederation of Indian industry (CII). O P Rawat, secretary DPE and B Prasada Rao, chairman and managing director of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited also addressed the inaugural session.