Chennai, April 25: ADMK leader Jayalalithaa has got support from state public sector undertakings at a time when she is seeking to boost her image with two crucial Assembly by-elections round the corner.

The state government has been going to town over the elimination of sandalwood smuggler Veerappan and the completion of the Rs 720-crore Veeranam project to supply water to Chennai.

However, political circles have been taken by surprise by the ?overall good? performance of PSUs in Tamil Nadu amid persistent calls to privatise. This has come as a bonus for Jayalalithaa at a time when former ally BJP and the Dalit parties do not want to have a political understanding with the ADMK in the state.

The Review of Performance of State Public Sector Undertakings For The Year 2003-04 speaks of an overall better showing by 47 PSUs in Tamil Nadu.

The number of profit-making PSUs have gone up to 31 from 27 in the previous year. On top of the list is the Tamil Nadu News Print and Papers Ltd, the mill that pioneered the manufacture of printing and writing paper from bagasse, it says. Loss-making PSUs have declined from 20 last year to 16, according to the report.

The profit-making PSUs have earned an ?aggregate net profit? of Rs 200.32 crore, the highest since Jayalalithaa returned to power in May 2001. Government investment in PSUs ? share capital, grants and loans ? has also gone up by nearly Rs 284 crore to Rs 2,561.39 crore in 2003-04, despite the severe financial crisis, points out the review.

The dividend declared by the PSUs and paid to the government has risen marginally, it says. The state has also quietly shed flab in the workforce of the PSUs. The state?s undertakings employed about 1.57 lakh people on March 31, 2004, against 1.61 lakh the previous year.

There are other indicators also to show that Jayalalithaa is a quiet reformer. Sixteen state-owned passenger transport corporations have been amalgamated into five, which the report says has improved the performance of the PSUs.

The aggregate net profit of the seven transport corporations ? two already existing and the five merged entities ? has for the first time in many years shot up to Rs 2.72 crore against an aggregate loss of Rs 6 lakh crore the previous year, the report says.