Health Ministry may urge PMO to re-think HSCC merger plan

The government's plan to merge profit-making Health Ministry's PSU —Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation (HSCC)— is likely to get delayed as the Health Ministry is mulling to urge Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to reconsider the PSU's disinvestment proposal.

According to sources, a presentation would soon be given to the PMO with facts and figures establishing the profit-making activities of the PSU in recent years.

"In the last five years, the HSCC has registered 33 per cent Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) from just 4 per cent in 2010-11. The increase in the result recorded by the HSCC in the era of economic slowdown is self-explanatory," the sources said, adding that the government may reconsider its decision to merge the PSU.

The performance of HSCC has also drawn the attention of Union Health Minister JP Nadda, who had in November 2016 lauded the government-run PSU for a massive jump in its turnover which rose over 92 per cent to Rs 1,106 crore in the last fiscal.

"The minister had congratulated HSCC on its remarkable turnover jump of 92.26 per cent after HSCC posted a dividend of 683 per cent on paid up capital, amounting to Rs 16.38 crore, out of current year's profit for the year 2015-16," the ministry had said in its official statement in November 2016.

The buzz is that state-owned construction and real estate company NBCC Ltd might buy four smaller public sector enterprises engaged in similar activities. This could be the first of many mergers and acquisitions by state-owned companies in 2017-18 as the Narendra Modi government looks at consolidation to shore up revenues from disinvestment.

The four smaller firms which NBCC, a listed 'Navratna' company, could buy are Hindustan Prefab, Engineering Projects India Ltd, NPCC Ltd, and HSCC. The Centre owns a 75 per cent stake in NBCC and a 100 per cent stake in others.