Govt grants Navratna status to IRCON

New Delhi: IRCON International Limited, a leading turnkey construction company under the Ministry of Railways, has now been upgraded to Navratna status, IRCON informed the exchanges on Thursday. "... it is to inform that the Department of Public Enterprises, vide its letter dated 12th October, 2023 has granted the Navratna Status to IRCON. IRCON will be the 15th Navratna amongst the CPSEs. IRCON is a CPSE under Ministry of Railways with an Annual Turnover of Rs.10,750 Crore and Net Profit of Rs. 765 Crore (on Consolidated basis) and Annual Turnover of Rs.10,262 Crore and Net Profit of Rs.777 Crore (on Standalone basis) for the year 2022-23," IRCON told the bourses in a regulatory filing.

Why has IRCON been granted Navratna status?

The government categorises all Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) in three categories, namely Maharatna, Navratna and Miniratna. To get Navratna status, the PSU should be a Miniratna-I, Schedule 'A' company, should have obtained 'excellent' or 'very good' MoU rating in three of the last five years and must have a composite score of 60 in six performance indicators.

For a company to achieve the Navratna status, it must report a net profit of more than Rs 5,000 crore for three consecutive years and maintain an average annual turnover of Rs 25,000 crore for three years or have an annual average net worth of over Rs 15,000 crore for three years.

How will it benefit IRCON?

The status allows the Board of Directors of these CPSEs the power to allow mergers and acquisitions in India and abroad. However, they need an approval from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) to make investments abroad. The Chief Executive of the PSE gets the power to approve business tours abroad of functional directors up to five days’ duration (other than study tours, seminars, etc) in emergency, under intimation to the Secretary of the administrative ministry.

Apart from IRCON, there are 15 Navratna PSUs in India. The list includes Bharat Electronics Limited, Container Corporation of India Limited, Engineers India Limited, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, National Aluminium Company Limited, National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited, Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited, NMDC Limited, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, Shipping Corporation of India Limited, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited, ONGC Videsh Ltd, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Limited and RITES Ltd.

(PSU Watch– India's Business News centre that places the spotlight on PSUs, Bureaucracy, Defence and Public Policy is now on Google News. Click here to follow. Also, join PSU Watch Channel in your Telegram. You may also follow us on Twitter here and stay updated.)