Negiji , please find some arguments inline. Like many in the media your mindset has hyphenated the PSU's with the Chai-Biskoot babus of the Secretariat.
Protectionism was needed for the nation. Burma Shell/Mobil could've brought the nation to its *knees* in 1971 during the famous American tilt. Don't say that the Oil Companies are the ones who only benefitted. It was as important as the decision of Independent India to have a formidable military. Even to date, Pukis dont have a single Pak Air Force required lubricant in their dumps, let alone lubricants/heavy oils for their Naval assets.negi wrote:From Oil and NG thread.
In case of private sector there are no protectionist policies in place and no over staffing ,operating margins are under strict scrutiny.
Regarding over staffing, even a rudimentary google search would tell you about the lack of chemical engineers and mechanical engineers in these Oil Companies. Hope you know this was an Officer's strike not a workmen strike.
I'm sure you dont even have an idea how important operating margins are for these Oil Companies. For every financial year, the Deptt of Public Sector Enterprises and the Min of P&NG signs a MoU with the Oil Company stating specific financial goals to be achieved and at the year end these are evaluated to give a score out of 10. The Navratna's cant get a lower grading than "excellent" to maintain their so called "*autonomy*".
Lol, this is skewed thinking. How many RIL officials / Essar officers were fired when oil touched $150 or when the Panna-Mukti fields or the Dhirubhai-I/II fields were not brought online in the timeframe promised both to the stock exchanges and in the Production Sharing Agreements with the MoPNG??More importantly while private sector folks do enjoy high pay brackets they are at risk and mercy of market dynamics ; hundreds of thousands are fired at a blink of an eye when required to maintain profitability.
Secondly, when oil touched 150, why didnt people who blame PSU's of ignoring *Market Dynamics* come out ?? Could we have survived if Gasoline sold for Rs. 75/ litre or LPG costed Rs. 400 per cylinder. Don't insult the alligator after you've crossed the river for heaven's sake !
I can see your middle school economic theory lessons in direct application here. Low Price - Hire more , High Price -fire more !! Dont you get it that the volume of refined Oil products that the refineries have to produce remains the same even if Oil touches $150 because the *Govt* sells it at $65 prices and consequently the demand doesnt suffer . Talking about recession, the Oil demand hasn't tanked even a single percentage point to enable these companies from shutting a single LPG plant , leave alone a refinery.The folks in Govt sector might not draw high salaries but they do enjoy the perks and more importantly are protected from adverse market conditions ,so much so that even loss making PSU's continue to recruit more and more people instead of laying off.
Lastly and not the least in private sector if one is unhappy with the pay stub then one is free to leave and join another company of his/her liking people do not indulge into this commie practice of calling BANDS and holding public at ransom; nothing stops these striking employees from leaving their present jobs and apply in RIL or even Schlum. But then it seems they want best of both the worlds.
Plus what recruitments are you talking about ?? Try talking to any IOC/EIL manager about the so called "overstaffing". Try going up to any floor in the EIL Headquarters at Bhikaji Cama Place, you'll be surprised to see entry-level engineers reporting to Deputy General Managers because the middle management has left for greener pastures in RIL/ONGC. Oil companies are not IndianRailways/Coal India behemoths that hire people and then look for suitable jobs. The situation is similar to what AM Naik is facing in L&T where you have 1000 applicants a week but not 10 satisfy the requirements. If the Pay Package isn't increased, the existing talent would migrate and then your dry petrol pumps wouldn't have oil for eternity.
ONGC was rated Asia's best Oil Company , rated 24 in top-50 Global Energy conglomerates including Shell and likes. IOC is the 18th largest petroleum company as ranked by Forbes! You think these officers are asking pay hikes for the State Electricity Boards??First thing. Petroleum is by nature a profit making entity; there is no chance of loss in this business heck look at the figures for likes of Shell,Chevron and Mobil they are in top 10/20 profit making conglomerates this year despite recession.
And going by your logic what stops folks in ISRO, AIIMS (and folks in Govt Medical Hospitals) from on strike after all they are also not paid on par with their civilian counterparts .
In 1947, both India and Pakistan did not have refineries. Today India has IOC/BPCL/HPCL and Pakistan has PRL (Pakistan Refineries Ltd.) and Pakistan State Oil Company to do the job. Just take a rudimentary glance at the financials and you would get to know how much profit they make even on their free Saudi oil and Chinese refinery designs.
Oil is a fast moving, cash rich commodity but it takes billions of dollars and more importantly skilled manpower to make money out of it. Coal is equally in demand and India has lots of coal but why has Coal India Ltd. only recently started making profits ?? The only supply chain link in which Oil officers are not present is the end-customer Distribution i.e the petrol pumps and see for yourself how much corruption has creeped in there with low-grade, kerosene laced fuels that you get. The base line is that excellence should be rewarded rather than linking it with low performing cousins.
ISRO/AIIMS/NTPC would follow this line of action and FYI, AIIMS has done it several times and NTPC is going on a indefinite strike on Feb 21.