Coal India to be a Maharatna by year-end

State-owned Coal India is likely to get listed by October and may be accorded Maharatna tag by 2010 end, while BHEL has to wait for at least a year to be awarded with the coveted tag, a senior official said on Friday.

At present, there are four Maharatnas -- ONGC, Indian Oil, Steel Authority of India and NTPC. "...CIL will become our fifth Maharatna once its public issue goes through. We were hoping end of October and it's pretty much in line with that," Secretary in the Department of Public Enterprises Bhaskar Chatterjee said here.

When asked if the company would become a Maharatna by the year end, he said, "Yes." He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of All India Management Association function. CIL, the world's largest coal-miner, would be entitled for greater financial freedom once it gets Maharatna status.

On power major Bhel's qualification for the coveted title Chatterjee said, "Bhel will take at least a year or two (to qualify for the status). It is doing well otherwise but they need to meet minimum norms that will take a little while."

A company needs to have a three-year track record of annual net profit of over    5,000 crore (   50 billion), net worth of more than    15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion) and turnover of more than    25,000 crore (   250 billion), besides being listed on bourses to be eligible for the Maharatna status.

CIL, with about four lakh employees, had turnover    52,000 crore (   520 billion) in fiscal 2009-10.

It has had over    5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) profit in past three years.

However, Bhel does not fulfill the net profit requirement criteria to qualify for Maharatna.

Bhel turnover was    33,173.34 crore (   331.73 billion) in 2009-10. However, the company's annual average net profit was    3,433 crore (Rs 34.33 billion) during the last three years.

Maharatna scheme was announced by the government last December to give more operational freedom to the top-performing PSUs.