New Delhi: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has pulled up leading public sector undertakings (PSU) for glaring lapses in balance sheets, saying assets were overstated by Rs 377.43 crore in four Navratna companies including Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) while Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) alone understated assets by Rs 312 crore during 2001-02.

In its report on PSUs, presented on April 24 in Parliament, CAG said if 26 PSUs had not revised their accounts following test audits, the losses in 11 companies would have increased by Rs 328.28 crore and come down by Rs 15.29 crore in one PSU.

Noting that accounts of all nine Navratna PSUs were checked, the report said CAG comments had "brought out understatement of profits by Rs 2$3.22 crore in eight PSUs and understatement of loss by Rs 392.55 crore in SAIL".

It said IOC understated profits by Rs 312 crore and Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), Hindustan Petroleum, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) overstated profits ranging between Rs 1.47 crore to Rs 28.71 crore.

Commenting on the Navratna PSUs, the report said that while SAIL overstated assets by Rs 332.71 crore, others that overstated assets are ONGC, GAIL and MTNL. Likewise, SAIL also understated its liabilities by Rs 59.84 crore followed by MTNL with Rs 13.07 crore and HPCL with Rs 1.47 crore.

PTI