Power equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) today said it has become eligible for grant of Maharatna status.
At present, BHEL is a Navratna PSU. The coveted status will provide more financial autonomy to the company.
During 2011-12, state-run BHEL registered turnover of Rs 49,510 crore, net worth of Rs 25,373 crore and raked in net profit of Rs 7,040 crore, the company said in a statement.
"Significantly with this, BHEL has become eligible for Maharatna status," it said.
A company qualifying for the Maharatna tag should have an average annual turnover of more than Rs 25,000 crore in the last three years, according to the guidelines.
Among other requirements, the PSU must have a net worth of over Rs 15,000 crore and net profit of more than Rs 5,000 crore during the last three years.
Once a company gets the Maharatna status, its board would not be required to take the government's permission for investments up to Rs 5,000 crore in a joint venture project or wholly-owned subsidiary.
For the Navratna PSUs, this limit is Rs 1,000 crore.
At present, there are five Maharatna companies -- ONGC, Indian Oil, SAIL, NTPC and CIL and 16 Navratna companies, including Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, NMDC and GAIL.
The government had announced the Maharatna status in December, 2009 to give more operational freedom to the top performing PSUs.
Meanwhile, state-run BHEL said it has paid its highest equity dividend of Rs 1,567 crore to its shareholders including the government for 2011-12, the statement said.
A cheque of Rs 609.98 crore towards the final dividend for the year 2011-12 was presented to Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Praful Patel.
The cheque was given by BHEL Chairman and Managing Director B P Rao.
Besides, the company had paid an interim dividend of Rs 405.85 crore to the ministry.
Further, the company said, with an order book position of around Rs 1.33 lakh crore at the end of the first quarter of the current fiscal, it expects to achieve robust growth in 2012-13 and beyond.
BHEL has also established the capability to deliver power plant equipment of 20,000 MW per annum, it added.
