PSU' contribution to central exchequer falls 3% to Rs 3.5 lakh cr in FY'18: Survey

New Delhi: The contribution of state-owned firms to the central exchequer by way of excise duty, customs duty, GST, corporate tax, dividend and others fell 2.98 percent to Rs 3,50,052 crore in 2017-18, according to a survey tabled in Parliament Thursday. In 2016-17, CPSEs’ contribution to the exchequer stood at Rs 3,60,815 crore. The dividend declared or paid by such firms in the last fiscal stood at Rs 76,578 crore against Rs 78,129 crore in 2016-17, as per the Public Enterprises Survey 2017-18. [caption id=“attachment_4495585” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] “It has been observed that the return on net worth is highest in the mining and exploration sector (14.77 percent) followed by manufacturing, processing and generation (14.34 percent), services (5.04 percent), while agriculture sector has shown negative (-39.3 percent) return on net worth,” said the survey. The central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) employed 10.88 lakh people excluding casual and contractual workers in 2017-18 compared to 11.35 lakh in 2016-17, showing a fall of 4.14 percent in employee strength, it said. However, the salary and wages of all CPSEs stood at Rs 1,57,621 crore in 2017-18 against Rs 1,40,956 crore in the previous year, exhibiting a growth of 11.82 percent. The total market capitalisation (m-cap) of 52 CPSEs traded on stock exchanges was Rs 15.22 lakh crore as on March 31, 2018, registering a marginal increase of 0.21 percent from Rs 15.19 lakh crore in the previous year. The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expenditure of such firms stood at Rs 3,442.42 crore in 2017-18 against Rs 3,338.21 crore in the previous financial year, an increase of 3.12 percent.