India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, inspired by the then Soviet Union-pioneered model of state sponsored growth, who mooted the idea of placing the government—and within it the state-owned and state-run PSUs—as the commanding heights of the Indian economy.  

It was documented in the Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956 and found articulation in the benchmark Second Five Year Plan. Till the beginning of the 1980s, the PSUs continued to be the commanding heights. 

Source: TMH Ramesh Singh