Maharatna Status

The government introduced the Maharatna scheme from 2010.

Why?

It aims to empower mega central public sector enterprises to expand and emerge as global giants. 

What are the criteria for grant of Maharatna status?

The central public sector enterprises(CPSEs) fulfilling the following criteria are eligible to be considered for grant of Maharatna status.

• Having Navratna status.
• Listed on Indian stock exchange with minimum prescribed public shareholding under SEBI regulations.
• 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.

How many Maharatnas are there presently?

Department of Public Enterprises, under the Ministry of Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises granted Maharatna status to HPCL and Power Grid Corporation.

As a result, there are ten Maharatna CPSEs

1. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited 

2. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited 

3. Coal India Limited 4. GAIL (India) Limited 

5. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited 

6. Indian Oil Corporation Limited 

7. NTPC Limited 

8. Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited 

9. Power Grid Corporation of India Limited 

10. Steel Authority of India Limited

What are the benefits of the status?

It gives them greater operational and financial autonomy.

The grant of Maharatna status to the PSUs will impart enhanced powers to their Boards to take financial decisions.

The Boards of Maharatna central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) can make equity investments to undertake financial joint ventures and wholly owned subsidiaries and undertake mergers and acquisitions in India and abroad, subject to a ceiling of 15 per cent of he net worth of the concerned CPSE, limited to ₹5,000 crore in one project.

It gets powers to raise debt from capital markets, home and abroad (the latter is subject to approval of the Reserve Bank and/or the Department of Economic Affairs of the Finance Ministry).

The Boards can also structure and implement schemes relating to personnel and human resource management and training. They can also enter into technology joint ventures or other strategic alliances.

Thus they have financial, operational, commercial (pricing their products) and human resource management freedom.

What are the criteria for grant of Navratna status?

Navaratna status can be given to only those CPSEs that are already a Miniratna. There are many types of Miniratnas. Of them, the Miniratna Category – I and Schedule ‘A’ CPSEs, which have obtained ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ rating under the Memorandum of Understanding system in three of the last five years, and have composite score of 60 or above in the six selected performance parameters, namely,

• Net profit to net worth,
• Manpower cost to total cost of production/services,
• Profit before depreciation, interest and taxes to capital employed,
• Profit before interest and taxes to turnover,
• Earning per share and
• Inter-sectoral performance.

Mention all the Navaratnas CPSEs 

1. Bharat Electronics Limited 

2. Container Corporation of India Limited 

3. Engineers India Limited 

4. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited 

5. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited 

6. National Aluminium Company Limited 

7. NBCC (India) Limited 8. NMDC Limited 

9. NLC India Limited 

10. Oil India Limited 

11. Power Finance Corporation Limited 

12. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited 

13. Rural Electrification Corporation Limited 

14. Shipping Corporation of India Limited

What about the criteria for grant of Miniratna status?

The CPSEs which have made profits in the last three years continuously and have positive net worth are eligible to be considered for grant of Miniratna status.

Presently, there are 10 Maharatna, 14 Navratna and 73 Miniratna CPSEs (Category -I 61 and Category-II 12).