Explore Business Standard
The government is not considering any proposal to raise the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in public sector banks to 49 per cent, from the current 20 per cent, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said on Tuesday. The FDI limit in PSBs and private sector banks is 20 per cent and 74 per cent, respectively. In case of private sector banks, up to 49 per cent of FDI is through the automatic route and beyond 49 per cent and up to 74 per cent, government route is applicable. In response to a written question in the Rajya Sabha on whether the government has proposed raising the FDI limit in PSBs to 49 per cent, Chaudhary replied in the negative. Further, as per Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Master Directions on Acquisition and holding of shares or voting rights in Banking Companies', share acquisition of a bank resulting in any person owning or controlling 5 per cent or more of the paid-up capital of the bank, requires prior RBI approval. Replying to another question, ...
Over 1,000 employees of disinvestment-bound steelmaker RINL have applied for voluntary retirement scheme (VRS), Parliament was informed on Friday. The benefits for VRS-II in RINL are according to guidelines of Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) dated July 20, 2018, Minister of State (MoS) for Steel Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma said in a reply to the Rajya Sabha. The minister said the benefits of VRS-II are the same as were extended in VRS. "RINL offered VRS for opting eligible and interested employees on 14.06.2025. The scheme had commenced on 16.06.2025 and the last date for withdrawal of submitting applications was 18.07.2025. (A total of) 1,017 number of employees have opted for VRS," he said. As per an official document, the company employed 13,536 regular employees (4,390 executives, and 9,146 non-executives) as on March 31, 2024. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on January 27, 2021 accorded "in principle" approval for 100 per cent disinvestment of Government of Indi
The government on Tuesday said three more nano fertiliser plants will be set up with a total production capacity of 17 crore bottles per annum by private and public fertiliser companies. Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Anupriya Patel, in her written reply to the Rajya Sabha, said the government is not directly involved in setting up of nano fertiliser plants across the country. Overall seven nano-urea plants have been set up by fertiliser companies with a total production capacity of all these nano-urea plants presently in operation at 27.22 crore bottles (500 ml each) per annum. Further, three nano DAP (Di Ammonium Phosphate) plants have been set up by fertilizer companies with a total production capacity of all these nano DAP plants presently in operation at 7.64 crore bottles (500 ml each) per annum. In addition to this, "PSUs and other fertilizer companies have intimated about setting up of 3 more nano fertilizer plants, with a total production capacity of 17 cr
State-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has emerged as the highest profit making company among PSUs in March quarter FY25, netting a little over Rs 19,000 crore. Last week, LIC reported 38 per cent jump in net profit for January-March FY25 at record Rs 19,013 crore as compared to Rs 13,763 crore in the corresponding quarter in the previous year. The insurance behemoth was followed by the country's biggest lender State Bank of India (SBI) with Rs 18,643 crore profit during the fourth quarter. However, SBI was ahead of LIC in terms of annual profit as it earned Rs 70,901 crore in FY25 as against Rs 48,151 crore of LIC. Among other PSUs, Coal India earned a net profit of Rs 9,604 crore in the quarter followed by Power Finance Corporation (PFC) earning Rs 8,358 crore and NTPC Rs 7,897 crore, as per the data available on stock exchanges. In the oil sector, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) closed the fourth quarter with a net profit of Rs 7,265 crore followed by exploration gi
NTPC Green Energy board on Saturday appointed Sarit Maheshwari as the Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect. The board of directors of the company in its meeting on Saturday approved cessation of Rajiv Gupta as Chief Executive Officer (Key Managerial Personnel), with effect from May 10, 2025, a regulatory filing said. According to the filing, the board of directors has approved the appointment of Sarit Maheshwari as Chief Executive Officer of the company with effect from May 10, 2025. He has 35 years of experience in the power sector and was associated with NTPC as Head of Project Korba, it said.
Markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday proposed carving out a separate mechanism for voluntary delisting of PSUs, where the government or promoter group owns 90 per cent or more of shares. Under current rules, delisting is successful if promoter shareholding reaches 90 per cent. Moreover, the floor price for delisting is calculated using several pricing metrics such as 60-day average price and highest price in the last 26 weeks. These rules can make delisting costly for PSUs due to high market prices despite low book values or weak financials. In its consultation paper, Sebi noted that many PSUs have low public shareholding, outdated business models or weak future outlook and higher market prices due to government ownership than actual value. These make them financially burdensome for the government to delist such companies. In view of these drawbacks and to facilitate delisting of such PSUs, Sebi has proposed that a separate carve out for voluntary delisting should be created. Under