New Delhi, Aug 21: Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma today said as many as 777 central and state PSUs and several private firms have defaulted in remitting their PF share to Employees Provident Fund Organisation, which has resulted in staggering outstanding of over Rs 1,756 crore. The defaulting PSUs included oil majors like ONGC, IOC and BPCL, BHEL, HMT, Vishakapatnam steel plant and fertiliser units besides Maruti Udyog, Verma told reporters here.

In a bid to "expose" perennially defaulting entities, he also warned of regular monitoring of their repayment, failing which their names would be put on web site to be updated every fortnight. Asserting that the EPFO will not spare any one found guilty of defaulting, Verma pointed out that a general manager of Madhya Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation was one of the 68 defaulters arrested.

Together, 229 CPSUs owed Rs 371.4 crore to the EPFO, out of which Rs 56.4 crore had been recovered and a gap of Rs 315 crore remained as on July 31 this year.

The total arrears, which central and state PSUs and the private sector owe to the EPFO, stood at Rs 1756.21 crore, of which total realisable was mere Rs 571 crore, or 33 per cent of the total amount and the remaining Rs 1185 crore was locked in various litigations.

Of the total Rs 1756 crore outstanding arrears, state PSUs accounted for Rs 353 crore, central PSUs Rs 315 crore and the private sector Rs 1088 crore, he said. Bureau Report