Govt to make HMT Machine Tools profitable: Minister Geete

Union minister Geete 

AT A time when the reports are doing the round that many loss making PSUs will be shut down, Union heavy industries minister Anant Geete has said that his ministry is working out strategy to make HMT Machine Tools profitable once again. The minister further said that 21 out of 32 units under the ministry have been rejuvenated and next year, remaining 11 units will be operationalised again. "During the UPA regime, only 13 units were in profit. Now, 17 are...
making profit. We are working towards making the remaining four -- HMT Machine Tools, Heavy Engineering Corporation, Hindustan Paper Corporation and NEPA --profit making," Geete said at an event organised by IEEMA. Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers' Association (IEEMA), is a national representative organization of manufacturers of electrical, industrial electronics and allied equipment in India.
The minister also called for better coordination among central public sector undertakings (CPSUs) for the development of the nation.
"There are 290 CPSUs which have a collective surplus of more than Rs 2 lakh crore over the past two years. But there is no coordination between them and so they cannot help each other in case of they require funds for taking up new projects and nation's development," The minister also said the ministry is working towards bringing in coordination between all the CPSUs.
"There is no dearth of funds. We are working towards bringing more coordination between them so that they can financially assist each other in case of requirement of funds for taking up new projects," he pointed out.
Known once as "Timekeeper of the Nation", HMT will lay off 2,900 of its staff, including 1,091 from its twin-watch units and a bearing factory to turn around its fortunes with 1,600 blue collar work force.
"As we plan to retain about 1,600 employees in other two subsidiaries after closing the three subsidiaries, we will soon offer an attractive Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) to 2,900 of the total 4,500 workforce," HMT group chairman S. Girish Kumar said. "Post-restructuring, we plan to have nine verticals, including machine tools, bio-medical equipment, tractors and watches in small quantity," Kumar said.
Earlier, the Centre decided in December 2014 to shut down the three loss-making HMT subsidiaries and merge the remaining two into a holding firm. A one-time voluntary retirement scheme, estimated at around Rs 25-55 lakh for each employee, is being worked out.