In order to mop up funds to bridge a widening gap between revenue and fiscal deficits, Punjab's Amrinder Singh government on Wednesday approved the disinvestment of loss making three state-owned companies: Punjab Communications Limited (PUNCOM), Punjab Financial Corporation (PFC) and Punjab Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC). To carry out disinvestment process, a core group of officers will be set up under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary. The core group has been mandated to make recommendations regarding the disinvestment of PSUs in Punjab, the report of which would be submitted to the Council of Ministers for the final decision. Punjab earned merely Rs 4.90 crore as dividend in 2017-18 from its 50-odd PSUs, while the state resources locked up in these PSUs amount to Rs 7614 crore. The total amount of outstanding government loans of these PSUs is around Rs 25,393 crore and the unpaid loan against the government guarantee stands at Rs 18,312 crore as on March 31, 2018 (provisional). The state Cabinet also noted that the Central government had collected around Rs 1 lakh crore from the strategic and non-strategic disinvestment of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) in 2017-18, taking advantage of the market conditions.