Govt forms committee to give Maharatna status

The government has formed a committee to scrutinies applications from public sector enterprises seeking more financial autonomy under Mahartana status.

The committee would be headed by Prabir Sengupta, a former bureaucrat, and also includes Department of Public Enterprises Secretary Bhaskar Chaterjee among other members, a Heavy Industries Ministry official told PTI.

"A committee has been appointed for that (to give Maharatna tag to PSUs) and those (PSUs) who fit into that conditions will apply to it," the official said.

Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had yesterday said that about 4-5 central PSUs would qualify for the status.

"....Committee will recommend...It all depends upon the companies who will approach the committee... Basically companies which fall into that category include ONGC, SAIL and NTPC," the official added.

At present, only ONGC, Indian Oil, SAIL and NTPC meet the norms set by the government. These include a three-year track record of annual net profit of over Rs 5,000 crore, networth of Rs 15,000 crore and turnover of Rs 25,000 crore, besides being listed on the stock exchanges.

A Maharatna CPSU would be able to take investment decisions up to Rs 5,000 crore without government nod against the current limit of Rs 1,000 crore for the Navratnas. In all, there are 18 Navratnas.