RTCs among 18 loss-making govt undertakings in state

All four road transport corporations (RTCs) are among the 18 government undertakings that are under loss, according to data from the Commerce and Industries department.

There are a total of 60 enterprises of the state government. Of these, 37 are profit-making, while five are in the ‘services sector,’ so they do not have a profit or loss statement.

The total monthly expenses of the beleaguered road transport corporations stood at Rs 619.3 crore, with the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) footing a Rs 321-crore bill every month.

Compared with these, only two of the seven undertakings of the Energy department are in the red.

The transport corporations were able to manage expenses on their own till the Covid-19 lockdown. As a result, the government had to pay salaries of employees from these corporations from April to September.

Expenses incurred by other RTCs such as North East Karnataka RTC, North West Karnataka RTC and Bangalore Metropolitan Road Transport Corporation were Rs 178.49 crore, Rs 46 crore and Rs 73.20 crore, respectively.

The only profit-making transport undertaking was the Devaraj Urs Truck Terminals Limited.

The two loss-making undertakings under the Energy department are Hubli Electricity Supply Company (Hescom) and Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company (Gescom). Of the two, Gescom recorded profits since the 2018-19 fiscal, which is not sufficient to overcome the overall losses.

Companies of historic importance such as Mysore Paper Mills Ltd and Mysuru Sugar Company Ltd (MySugar) have continued to be in the red.

MySugar, according to a reply in Legislative Council to a question by Congress member M Narayanaswamy, was paying salaries to its employees by selling off the sugar stock in the factory. “Administrative departments concerned with these undertakings are continuously working to improve their prospects,” Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar said in his response.

The five undertakings classified under services sector are Dr B R Ambedkar Development Corporation Limited, D Devaraj Urs Backward Classes Development Corporation, Karnataka Maharishi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation, Karnataka State Women’s Development Corporation and Karnataka Minority Development Corporation.