New Delhi: Hon’ble Minister of State for Communications (Independent Charge) and Minister of State for Railways, Government of India Shri Manoj Sinha today released the ‘Strategic Plan’ for synergy among the PSUs and organizations of DoT in New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, Sh. Manoj Sinha said that thepublic sector companies have a very strategic role to play by nurturing and enhancing the Government’s intervention capabilities in matters of protection of consumer interests, disaster management, national security, international relations, execution of bilateral projects funded by Government of India and flagship programmes of the Government of India. He highlighted the strengths of various PSUs BSNL, MTNL, BBNL, TCIL, ITI and other organizations like TEC & C-DoT. He further emphasized that to face competition in the market, to address new business opportunities arising from Government initiatives like Digital India and Smart city, for optimum utilization of their resources for maximum benefit and profitability; they need to work in synergy. He cited the examples of BharatNet and the turnaround of ITI as very good illustrations of synergy among the PSUs.
Ms. Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary(Telecom) stressed that synergy among the PSUs is one of the major policy issues being addressed in the National Telecom Policy. She made a mention of areas where the public sector organizations can work together, especially in big projects like setting upsemiconductor fabrication facility in the country due to huge investment needs. Such projects are possible with synergy,not only among the PSUs of DoT but also among the PSUs of different Ministries like Defence, Telecom, IT and Urban Development, in which PSUs share the costsand risks of execution, while Government plays a supporting role.She also touched upon other policy initiatives like the preferential Market Access policy to support ‘Make in India’ but expressed concern that many Government departments and organizations are not honoring this policy in their tenders.
The afternoon sessions consisted of panel discussions among senior officers from the Government and the PSUs. The CMDs of PSUs & senior officers of DoT deliberated on various aspects of the strategic plan and how it can be successfully implemented. They also discussed about the various targets and timelines to achieve synergy among their organizations. In addition,discussions were also held oncurrent and emerging opportunities for PSUs and other organizations in areas of digitization of villages, exports of Indian products and services, promotion of startups and entrepreneurships, indigenization and import substitution and development of 5G ecosystems in India as well as the need for synergistic action for optimally addressing these opportunities.
