India's PSUs: Engine of Growth & Development | Union Minister

New Delhi, Jun 22 (PTI) Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday said the country's public sector undertakings have lived up to the global benchmarks and they are the engine of its growth and development.

Addressing an event here, he said "India, today excels in most of the global benchmarks, in some areas it is at par with other big nations, whereas in other areas it is much ahead of them."

Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel, praised the public sector undertakings (PSUs) for their consistent contribution to the Indian economy and being the engines of growth and development.

The rise of the Indian economy has been possible due to the contribution of the PSUs, he said.

The PSUs have lived up to the global benchmarks and standards, the minister said.

"It is due to their unparalleled efforts that India has risen in the global innovation index. Today, it is ranked 40 worldwide, ahead of many economies of comparable size, whereas it was at rank 81 in 2014," Singh was quoted as having said in a statement issued by the Personnel Ministry.

The reason why Indian PSUs have excelled in present times is because they have given up the hesitation to incorporate private players, he said, while attending the 1st "ET Government PSU awards" organised by the 'Economic Times'.

Recognising their efforts, the minister also awarded various PSUs in different categories.

"In the category of skill development, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) received the gold award while BHASHINI was awarded gold in the adoption of AI and predictive technology category.

"Other categories were employee self-service where HPCL was the recipient of the gold award. (In) Indigenous technology adoption (category) BHEL was given a gold award. Other winners were CDAC, EESL and so forth," the statement said.