An important factor in India’s economic expansion is the Public Sector Undertaking (PSU). PSUs are essentially businesses in which the Indian government owns at least 51% of the business. These businesses have been essential to many industries, including banking, energy, insurance, infrastructure, and more. PSUs are among the most important forces behind the nation’s economic growth.
It has been boosting infrastructure development, job creation, and societal well-being in general. Serving and meeting the public interest, not increasing profits, is the PSU industry’s main goal. Energy, banking, manufacturing, mining, telecommunications, defence, steel, and other industries are among the many industries in which Indian PSUs are active.
Currently, there are 14 Maharatna Companies in India and major of them are having above Rs 2 lakh crore turn-over. As of March 31, 2023, India had 389 Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs). These are government-owned businesses in which at least 51% of the company is owned by the federal government. A large number of CPSEs are listed on stock exchanges as well.
PSU Connect has listed down some of the top PSU sector stocks in terms of strong market capitalization.
Category-wise in terms of Best PSU
Oil Exploration – ONGC
Power Sector – NTPC
Mining – Coal India
Power- Power Grid Corporation
Oil Refining- Indian Oil Corporation
Transport and Infrastructure- RVNL
Electrical- BHEL
According to the stronger market portfolio of the PSUs, here is the list of some recognized PSUs:
ONGC: Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, founded in 1993 is one of the most renowned PSUs in India, mostly engaged in oil exploration and production. It is a leading crude oil and natural gas company engaged in exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas, and other petroleum products.
Some of the recognizable subsidiaries are- ONGC Videsh Limited, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, HPCL Biofuels Limited, Petronet MHB Limited, etc.
NTPC: One of India’s top producers of electricity is National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). Since its founding in 1975, it has been actively involved in the production and sale of electricity to State Power Utilities. NTPC operates a large number of power plants throughout the nation. This PSU has been playing an important role in the energy sector for many years, from oil and gas exploration to project management, energy trading, and power generation.
Coal India Ltd: Coal India Ltd was founded in 1975 and is mainly involved in coal mining which is spread across 8 states in India.
The company owns more than 300 mines, including mixed, opencast, and underground mines. It is a Maharatna company that also operates India’s corporate training centre, the Indian Institute of Coal Management (IICM). Additionally, Coal India has a number of subsidiaries. Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, Central Coalfields Limited, and Bharat Coking Coal Limited are a few of the well-known ones.
Power Grid: Power Grid Corporation of India Limited is a Maharatna PSU of the Government of India and was founded on 23rd Oct 1989. It is a listed Company, in which 51.34% is held by the Indian government, and the remaining is held by public and institutional investors.
The company is power transmission based and is primarily engaged in the planning, implementation, operation, and maintenance of Inter-State Transmission Systems, telecom and consultancy services.
Indian Oil: About half of India’s market share for petroleum products comes from Indian Oil, which also owns 35% of the country’s refining capacity (along with its subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd., or CPCL) and 71% of the pipelines used in the downstream sector.
The Indian Oil Group owns and operates 11 of India’s 23 [29] refineries with a combined refining capacity of 80.7 million tonnes per year. Over 13,000 kilometres make up Indian Oil’s cross-country pipeline network, which transports crude oil to refineries and completed goods to areas with high demand. The company can process 80.49 million tonnes of crude oil and petroleum products annually, and 9.5 million cubic meters of petrol per day under normal circumstances.
NHPC: National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) was founded in 1975. The company is engaged in the hydropower generation sector and some of the core business activities of NHPC are project management, consultancy assignment services, construction contracts, power trading, and more.
GAIL (India): Natural gas production, transmission, and distribution are the main areas of interest for GAIL Limited, a state-owned energy company in India. In addition, GAIL has interests in electricity generation, telecom and telemetry services, and the exploration and production of solar and wind power.
