Gujarat assembly question hour makes interesting revelations about affairs of state

Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Limited
The Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Limited (GSPC) reported a significant fall in turnover and profit for the financial year 2009-10, indicating its poor financial condition.

The state-owned company, once counted among the blue chip companies, tabled its annual report for the year 2009-10 in the state assembly on Friday.

GSPC reported that its turnover fell almost 30% from Rs5,476.18 crore in 2008-09 to Rs3,868.55 crore in 2009-10. The company's profit after tax declined from Rs374.91 crore in 2008-09 to Rs319.62 crore in 2009-10.

The outstanding debt of GSPC, which is reported to be facing severe financial problems, also spiraled in the year gone by. The annual report shows that its debt rose to Rs6,383.83 crore as of March 31, 2010, as against Rs4,947.21 crore on March 31, 2009.

The company's term loans increased from Rs2,863.55 crore to Rs3,204.45 crore, while short-term loans jumped from Rs2,083.66 crore to Rs3,179.38 crore.

GSPC officials could not be reached for a comment.
GSPC is said to be facing a severe fund crunch and is finding it difficult to fund development of its Deendayal West block.

According to the annual report, GSPC availed short term loans of Rs645 crore from various banks during the year. It also availed short term loans to the tune of Rs450 crore from the Gujarat State Financial Services Limited in 2009-10.

While the company has reported total debt of Rs6,383.83 crore at the end of financial year 2009-10, sources said the company's current debt may well be over Rs10,000 crore.

Sources also said that since GSPC's planned Initial Planning Offering (IPO) is unlikely to take place any time soon, the company has no other option but to raise debt to fund its development plans.

GIDC to buy 10,487 ha land for Rs2,258 cr
Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) has come out with budget estimates for the year 2011-12, in which it says that the corporation will invest Rs2,258.83 crore to acquire 10,487.62 hectares of land. Of the total, GIDC will buy 5,440 hectare of land in five estates in the state for Rs1,030.25 crore.

The GIDC report on 'Annual Financial Statement - Budget Estimates', which was tabled in assembly on Friday, says that it will acquire a total of 5,440 hectare of land in Dahej, Sanan, Halol Devgam and Vagra Vilayat.

Compared to revised estimates of Rs2,140.80 crore in 2009-10, including land acquisition cost, the capital expenditure in 2011-12 is estimated to grow by Rs118.03 crore or 5.51% to Rs2,258.83 crore. In 2011-12, the total acquisition cost of land is estimated to be Rs1,228.25 crore.

The total income of the corporation estimated for 2011-12 is Rs2,640.04 crore against the total expenditure of Rs2,596.35 crore. The closing balance of Rs43.69 crore is available at the end of the year 2011-12.

The conclusion of the report says that the objective of GIDC in 2011-12 will be development of industrial areas and estates along with development of rural, backward and tribal areas in the estate.