Becoming a mini-ratna co won’t be easy anymore

NEW DELHI: The government is likely to tighten norms for granting public sector undertaking (PSU) to qualify as mini-ratnas. In addition, companies which have been once designated as mini-ratnas may not have access to the status permanently — as is the case now.

There is no provision, so far, to strip a PSU of its status of mini-ratna or even Navratna if its performance declines. A company qualifies as a mini-ratna if it simply makes profits for three consecutive years. There is no provision to strip a company of its status if it runs into losses.

In less than six months, the number of mini-ratna PSUs has gone up from 43 to 51. Mini-ratna status is given by the respective administrative ministries to their PSUs and the department of public enterprises is informed about the change in status.

Companies like Hindustan Newsprint, which is a mini-ratna, has not made profits for three years in a row. Ferro Scrap Nigam has been making marginal profits of approximately Rs 5 crore since the past three years and has shown no growth. So is also the case of Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments (REIL) which has shown a profit of around Rs 2 crore in the last three years, as per the survey.

Some of the companies that have been granted mini-ratna status include Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL), Bharat Earth Movers (BEML), Hindustan Latex, Engineering Projects of India (EPIL), Rashtriya Ispat (RIL) and Garden Reach Shipping and Engineers (GRSE) and Mazagaon Dock.