The government is reportedly moving in the direction of consolidation of more PSUs to optimize costs, improve efficiency, and ensure better compliance with corporate governance rules. Of course, PSBs are on top of the list. But other PSUs have also been directed to initiate the process of consolidation. Accordingly, Power Finance Corporation and Rural Electrification Corp are preparing a plan to merge group companies to create a single unit to stamp out duplication of work. The much-delayed move will cut costs and help make the new entity to compete effectively with private sector entities. It is learnt that NTPC, NMDC, Container Corporation, Shipping Corporation, and Coal India may soon follow a similar path of consolidation. Government firms are often blamed for complex structures, with many group companies pursuing almost the same business objectives. For instance, Power Finance Corp has about 25 subsidiaries spread across the country. NTPC has five such arms, while Coal India has about a dozen group entities working on the same vertical. Those have been created over a period of time. Eastern Coalfields, a subsidiary based out of West Bengal, is only mining coals, nothing different from Mahanadi Coalfields, another subsidiary, based out of Odisha. Experts believe that this kind of complex organizational functioning is not in sync with modern trends and hence it's time to rationalize the operation and structure of PSUs.