Singareni nails Kishan for lies on fiscal health

Counters his misleading claims about company’s loans, net profit, employees’ salaries

Hyderabad: A blatant attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party through union Minister G Kishan Reddy in New Delhi on Wednesday to mislead the public about the financial condition of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) fell flat with the company countering his claims with a point-to-point rebuttal on its fiscal performance.

Addressing a press conference in the national capital, Kishan Reddy alleged that SCCL was bankrupt and that it had a debt of over Rs 10,000 crore. He also made misleading claims about the company’s loans, net profit and employees’ salaries.

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With the union Minister’s allegations coming in the wake of reports on the Centre’s attempts to push SCCL into losses and privatise it citing its financial condition, the SCCL management responded to the allegations, listing out its accounts and stating that anyone who had doubts over its fiscal strength could approach the company to examine the accounts directly.

On Kishan Reddy’s allegation of debts over Rs 10,000 crore, the SCCL management said the company’s investments, in the form of bonds and deposits, currently stood at Rs 11,665 crore. It was receiving an interest of Rs 750 crore on the same.

The company was also yet to get Rs 15,500 crore from its customers. In this way, its total financial backing stood at Rs 27,000 crore.

As for Kishan Reddy’s claim that the net profit of the SCCL dipped to Rs 1,027 crore, the management said the company’s turnover for the 2022-23 fiscal stood at Rs 32,830 crore with a growth of 273 per cent. The profits grew by 500 per cent from Rs 459 crore to Rs 2,300 crore. Apart from this, the company was earning a profit of Rs 500 crore through the Singareni Thermal Plant.

Commenting on the loans taken by the company, the management said it took a loan of Rs 5,300 crore to set up the Singareni Thermal Power Station and solar power stations. While the loan of Rs 472 crore for the solar power plants was already cleared, only Rs 2,800 crore of the Rs 5,300-crore loan for the thermal power plant was yet to be repaid.

On the pay scales of the workers and employees, the SCCL said the average salary of workers increased by 234 per cent to Rs 1.40 lakh in the last nine years. They were also getting 30 per cent of the company’s profit as a bonus. Kishan Reddy alleged that the workers were getting a meagre salary of Rs 430 per day.

Company officials said the Central Comptroller and Auditor General scrutinised the clear and error-free financial transaction reports submitted by the SCCL every year and expressed its appreciation. This was recognition of the financial policies implemented by the SCCL honestly, the management said.

Kishan Reddy also alleged that the State government owed Rs 25,000 crore to SCCL, while TSGenco and Transco’s outstanding stood at Rs 2,600 crore and Rs 18,000 crore, respectively. He also alleged that from 62,000 workers in 2014, the BRS government slashed the strength to 43,000. On the other hand, the State government increased the strength of contract workers from 14,000 to 30,000 in the last eight years.