Telecom monolith Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is the top profit-making public sector unit, while steel giant Steel Authority of India Limited had the dubious distinction of topping the list of loss making state-owned enterprises.

The profit chart was dominated by oil PSUs--ONGC, Indian Oil, GAIL and BPCL-- followed by the two telecom companies BSNL and MTNL, power giants NTPC and Nuclear Power Corporation and mining majors Northern Coalfields and Neyveli Lignite Corporation, which together contributed Rs 25,540 crore (Rs 255.40 billion) net profit in 2001-02, according to the Public Enterprises Survey.

A year after its corporatisation, BSNL emerged as the most profitable company with Rs 6,312 crore (Rs 63.12 billion)net profit in 2001-02 outsmarting other cash rich PSUs like ONGC (Rs 6,198 crore/ Rs 61.98 billion), NTPC (Rs 3,540 crore/ Rs 35.40 billion), Indian Oil (Rs 2,885 crore/ Rs 28.85 billion) and Nuclear Power Corporation (Rs 1,549 crore/ Rs 15.49 billion).

The other telecom major MTNL was at the sixth position with Rs 1,301 crore (Rs 13.01 billion) net profit followed by GAIL (Rs 1,186 crore/ Rs 11.86 billion), Northern Coalfields (Rs 900 crore/ Rs 9 billion), BPCL (Rs 850 crore/ Rs 8.5 billion) and Neyveli Lignite (Rs 819 crore/ Rs 8.19 billion).

Recession in steel industry worldwide and in India dragged SAIL on top of the losers list with a massive Rs 1,707 crore (Rs 17.07 billion) loss last fiscal.

SAIL was closely followed by Fertilizer Corporation with a loss of Rs 1,104 crore (Rs 11.04 billion), Bharat Coking Coal (Rs 755 crore/ Rs 7.55 billion), Hindustan Fertilizer (Rs 573 crore/ Rs 5.73 billion) and Konkan Railway (Rs 370 crore/ Rs 3.7 billion), National Jute Manufacturers (Rs 364 crore/ Rs 3.64 billion), Hindustan Photo Films (Rs 354 crore/ Rs 3.54 billion), Bharat Gold Mines (Rs 283 crore/ Rs 2.83 billion), Eastern Coalfields (Rs 278 crore/ Rs 2.78 billion) and Indian Drugs and Pharma Ltd (Rs 251 crore/ Rs 2.51 billion).

The top 10 losers eroded a total Rs 6,038 crore (Rs 60.38 billion), the survey tabled in Parliament on Monday said.