By CL Jose
FY21 loss at Rs63 cr, negative net worth soars to Rs309 cr
KOCHI/March 21-2022: Strange are the ways some of our government-owned companies and utilities ‘exist’ even after their capital base has been ‘more than’ wiped out.
There are several government owned companies with negative net worth built over several ‘lavish’ years of loss-making. Kerala Transport Development Finance Corporation Ltd (KTDFC) also qualifies the parameters of that category of entities, whose torch-bearers are KSEBL and KSRTC, and many more in the making.
But for the backing and guarantee from the government, many of these companies would have died a natural death after accumulating losses so as for the liabilities to far exceed their assets.
KTDFC, with a paid-up share capital of Rs43.8 crore has posted yet another loss of Rs63.2 crore for 2020-21 taking the accumulated losses to Rs352.52 crore as of March end, 2021, and this has exasperated the company’s financial position with the negative net worth soaring to Rs308.72 crore.
KTDFC, like several other public sector companies, has been a habitual loss maker, which reported Rs78 crore loss for 2019-20 and a much larger loss of Rs241.30 crore during 2018-19.
The corporation commenced its commercial operations exactly 30 years ago as a non-banking financial company (NBFC) under the licence from RBI.
Adverse opinion
Importantly, the external auditors of KTDFC had made an Adverse Opinion about the 2018-19 financials of the company. Making an Adverse Opinion about a company’s financials is viewed very seriously by the financial services industry.
The auditors had said the methods of accounting adopted by the company for the purpose of Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) projects were not as per the accounting method adhering to the terms and condition in the government orders concerned.
“Hence the income from leasing/expenditure on BOT operations included in the Statement if Profit & Loss Account is neither the income nor the expenditure of the company,” the auditors said while explaining the Basis for Adverse Opinion.
There were several other shortcomings in the financial statements of the company presented for 2018-19.
Businessbenchmark.news couldn’t access the full financial statements for the years 2020-21 or 2019-20 and that is the reason why the 2018-19 financial statement were analysed, being the latest set of full statements available on the company’s website.
Only provisional financials with limited details were available for the financial years FY21 and FY20. The auditors had picked holes in many other serious aspects of the accounts for the year 2018-19.
BOT Projects
The first BOT project that KTDFC had taken up was the construction of a Commercial cum Office Complex for Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) at Vazhuthacaud, Thiruvananthapuram (Trans Towers).
This was successfully completed in 2006 and thereafter, KTDFC undertook the construction of Bus Terminal cum Shopping Complexes for KSRTC on BOT basis at (1) Angamaly, (2) Thiruvananthapuram, (3) Thiruvalla and (4) Kozhikode.
