The Union Finance Ministry on August 3 upgraded two oil sector companies, Oil India and ONGC Videsh, to Maharatna and Navratna categories of central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), respectively.
- The new status will help the companies take decisions on large investments on their own, both within India and abroad.
Oil India Ltd: Upgraded to Maharatna
- The Union finance ministry has approved upgrading Oil India Ltd (OIL) to a ‘maharatna’ Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE), taking the total number of such entities to 13.
- The move would provide the state-run company greater operational and financial autonomy.
- The Maharatna scheme was introduced for CPSEs, with effect from May 19, 2010, in order to empower them to expand operations and emerge as global giants.
- Some of the important CPSEs are BHEL, Indian Oil, ONGC, Indian Oil, BPCL, HPCL and SAILs.
- CPSEs fulfilling the following criteria may be considered for Maharatna status: Holding Navratna status; listed on the Indian stock exchange, with a minimum prescribed public shareholding under SEBI regulations; an average annual turnover of more than Rs. 25,000 crore during the last 3 years; Average annual net worth of more than Rs. 15,000 crore during the last 3 years; Average annual net profit after tax of more than Rs. 5,000 crore during the last 3 years; Should have significant global presence/international operations.
ONGC Videsh Ltd: Upgraded to Navratna
- The Union finance ministry gave its approval to upgrade ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) to ’navratna’ Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) from category-I ‘miniratna’.
- ONGC Videsh, under the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, will be the 14th ’navratna’ among CPSEs.
- The status means the company will have more autonomy in terms of investment, setting up joint venture and other financial decisions.
- As per the Navratna company criteria, the company must have miniratna status, with four independent board directors. Moreover, the company must get a score of 60 out of 100 in parameters like net worth, net profit, total production cost, manpower cost, service cost, capital employed, and profit before depreciation, interest, and taxes (PBDIT).
- India now has 13 maharatna companies,14 navratna firms, and 74 miniratna CPSEs.
