Introduction to PSUs

PSUs (Public Sector Undertakings)

The government owned corporations are termed as Public sector Undertakings (PSUs) in India. In a PSU majority (51% or more) of the paid share capital is held by central government or by any state government or partly by the central government and partly by one or more state governments. Several Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) under the aegis of Government of India regularly provide tremendous employment opportunities in various technical and management areas.

Maharatna PSUs: Maharatna is the status given to top public sector enterprises where the companies have the authority to make foreign investments of upto Rs 5,000 crores without taking any government approval. To be qualified as Maharatna, the company should gain an annual net profit of over Rs. 5,000 crores, net worth of Rs. 15,000 crores and turnover of Rs. 25,000 crores over past three consecutive years. At present the companies which have Maharatna status are: SAIL, ONGC, NTPC, CIL, IOCL, BHEL and GAIL.

Navratna PSUs: Navratna status is conferred to the companies by the Department of Public Enterprises. To be qualified as a Navratna, the company must obtain a score of 60 out of 100. The score is based on six parameters which include net profit to net worth, total manpower cost to total cost of production or cost of services, PBDIT (Profit before depreciation, interest and taxes) to capital employed, PBDIT to turnover, EPS (Earning per Share) and inter-sectoral performance. Additionally, a company must first be a Miniratna and have four independent directors on its board before it can be made a Navratna. The Navratna status gives privileges to enhance financial and operational autonomy and empowers to invest up to Rs. 1000 crores or 15% of their net worth on a single project without seeking government approval. In a year, these companies can spend up to 30% of their net worth not exceeding Rs. 1000 crores. They will also have the freedom to enter joint ventures, form alliances and float subsidiaries abroad.

How to Prepare for PSUs?

• PSUs Entrance Exam Question Paper mainly consists of two major sections:
  Technical Section: Subject specialization of related stream
  Non-Technical Section: General Awareness, Current Affairs, English Language, Reasoning & Aptitude.
  Hence to crack PSUs competitive exam, candidate should prepare for both technical and non-technical sections, where 50% to 70% questions are from technical and remaining questions from non-technical sections.
• Be aware of exam pattern of different PSUs like number of technical questions, number of non-technical questions, negative marking, exam duration, marks per question etc.
• Always make it a habit of referring to previous year question papers.
• Prefer Reference books for derivations, equations, conceptual thought process, theory etc.
• Use shortcut techniques for numerical solving instead of traditional methods to save time.
• Practice previous year question papers and analyze the weak topics and concentrate more on those topics. Always try to solve question papers in a given time frame to obtain an idea as how many questions you are able to solve in given limits.

Group Discussion Round: Group Discussion is a crucial round conducted for shortlisted candidates. Good communication skills, topic knowledge, team spirit, leadership qualities, patience level and presence of mind are the major parameters to be considered.

Personal Interview: The personal interview is conducted to judge the personality of a candidate. Sound technical knowledge, positive attitude, body language, good communication skills play an important role to clear personal interviews. Candidates should be prepared with questions about their strengths and weaknesses and answer all questions confidently.

PSUs Exam Pattern

PSUs Salary Structure

PSUs Percentage Criteria

PSUs Age Criteria