New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS)

President Pranab Mukherjee Friday called upon public sector enterprises (PSEs) to maintain high levels of professional management for increasing their competitiveness during times of high competition from market forces.

The president was inaugurating the 'Global PSE Summit', organized here by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in collaboration with the Department of Public Enterprises of the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.

President Mukherjee said the foremost challenge for Indian PSEs is to increase competitiveness to deal with market forces, while the management has to be of the highest professional level to enable it to attain global benchmarks in productivity and efficiency.

The president further said that PSEs should do more in the area of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to set an example for their private sector counterparts in the provisions which are laid down in the Companies Act, 2013.

Under the new Companies Act, 2013, passed by parliament in August, profitable companies must every year spend at least two percent of their average net profit over the preceding three years on CSR works. However, the discretion to choose the specific activities and causes to be funded will rest with the company's board.

This mandatory CSR-spend rule will apply from fiscal 2014-15 onwards and those companies that have a turnover of Rs.1,000 crore or more or net profit of Rs.five crore or more will have to comply.