NEW DELHI-Is Private Enterprise More Efficient-Case of Fertiliser Industry

NEW DELHI Is Private Enterprise More Efficient?
Case of Fertiliser Industry BM AN Indian economist on the staff of the World Bank office in India pontificated the other day with great vehemence that, in the face of scarcity of resources, the government would be well advised to allow private enterprise to undertake the expansion of the fertiliser industry in the country. The fertiliser industry is, after all, very important for the growth of agriculture and it should not be allowed to stagnate. This recommendation is further strengthened by the argument that private enterprise is more efficient and profitable in contrast to public enterprises. What the ardent advocates of private enterprise have failed to notice or have chosen deliberately to ignore, however, is that the government has already adopted their prescription in the case, at least, of the fertiliser industry. The expansion of this core industry during the Seventh Plan has been assigned entirely to big private business houses. At the same time, an elaborate scheme has been drawn up for closure in a phased manner of loss-making fertiliser plants in the public sector.