Note worthy is the case of Indian jute industry where jute mills rake profits buying jute from Bangladesh and yet profiting from jute business.
It is said that privatization process began in the mid-seventies went through several transformation missing the imagination of and attention of the industrial policy makers.
So what went wrong in the privatization process carried out during 1976 and 1992, when about 500 SOEs were sold off or returned to their original owners?
The reasons are many and a few to name are lack of sincere efforts on part of the government professionalism, labour unrest etc. that have derailed the entire privatization process.
Add political will deficient infrastructure miss-management rendering SOEs economically unviable added with financial indiscipline, political interference that caused decadence of the industry in general.
Even World Bank has found in its studies that SOEs were a drag on the economy and noted that SOEs over the years have registered reduction in contributing towards the growth of the country's economy.
Coupled with disproportionate employment, state enterprises have not consistently served equity objectives.
They proved a drain on public treasury registering net losses averaging Tk 9.2 billion annually during fiscal 1991-2001, with an accumulated loss of Tk 101 billion.
Last but not the least, state enterprises encumbered public financial institutions' burden of non-performing loans with state enterprises, public banks suffer saddled with huge burden of non-performing assets and loans leading to capital inadequacy.
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