The Central PSUs or enterprises are categorized into Maharatna, Navratna, Miniratna companies based on gross turnover, profitability and certain other performance parameters. Some of the Central and States companies are listed on the Mumbai and National Stock Exchanges and some even on international stock exchanges like New York Stock Exchange. The categorization of the corporate giants helps the job seekers is to aim at jobs on the basis of importance and career prospects.

                                              Most important tip for the job seeker is to visit the concerned websites of the companies and gather information regarding emerging job opportunities. Many of these companies go for campus recruitments for entry level positions. Core WWW: Win-Win-Win strategy given for preparation for UPSC Indian Civil Services Examination, Staff Selection Commission Examination and Banking Clerical and Probationary Officers Examination will help in formulating appropriate strategy for recruitment in the corporate sector in addition to specific technical expertise and knowledge expected for the positions advertised.  There are 400 odd Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) and more than 1200 State Public Sector Undertakings (SPSUs) spread across the States and Union Territories. Some of them are listed on the stock exchange.

                                            The Central PSUs have been categorized into Maharatna, Navratna and Miniratna based on certain performance parameters like gross turnover, profitability etc. There are a number of SPSUs in the field of electricity generation, distribution and trans- mission; state transportation, housing, renewable energy sector and various other activities of the state governments. The recruitment for the higher level posts in Central PSUs are done by the Public Sector Enterprise Board (PSEB) and the other posts by the PSU themselves. The recruitment for the State PSUs is done by the PSUs themselves. 

Classification of Central Public Sector Undertakings

Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) are also classified as Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), State Public Sector Enterprises (SPSEs) and Public Sector Banks (PSBs). The Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) are also classified into ‘strategic’ and ‘non-strategic’. Areas of strategic CPSEs are:  

• Arms & Ammunition and the allied items of defence equipments, defence air-crafts and warships 

• Atomic Energy (except in the areas related to the operation of nuclear power and applications of radiation and radio-isotopes to agriculture, medicine and non-strategic industries) 

• Railways transport

All other CPSEs are considered as non-strategic. Maharatna/Navratna/Miniratna status for some Public Sector Undertakings The status of Maharatna, Navratna, Miniratna to CPSEs is conferred by the Department of Public Enterprises to various Public Sector Undertakings. These are CPSEs of high market capitalization, gross turnover and profitability and have greater autonomy in its functioning. Maharatna  The average annual net worth of the company should be Rs. 10,000 crore. The Maharatna status empowers mega CPSEs to expand their operations and emerge as global giants. The coveted status empowers the boards of firms to take investment decisions up to Rs. 5,000 crore as against the present Rs. 1,000 crore limit without seeking government approval. The Maharatna firms would now be free to decide on investments up to 15% of their net worth in a project, lim- ited to an absolute ceiling of Rs. 5,000 crore. 

Examples: 

1.Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited 

2.Coal India Limited 

3.GAIL (India) Limited the stock exchange. The Central PSUs have been categorized into Maharatna, Navratna and Miniratna based on certain performance parameters like gross turnover, profitability etc. There are a number of SPSUs in the field of electricity generation, distribution and transmission; state transportation, housing, renewable energy sector and various other activities of the state governments.

                                      The recruitment for the higher level posts in Central PSUs are done by the Public Sector Enterprise Board (PSEB) and the other posts by the PSU themselves. The recruitment for the State PSUs is done by the PSUs themselves.

Classification of Central Public Sector Undertakings

Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) are also classified as Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), State Public Sector Enterprises (SPSEs) and Public Sector Banks (PSBs).

The Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) are also classified into ‘strategic’ and ‘non-strategic’. Areas of strategic. CPSEs are:

Arms & Ammunition and the allied items of defence equipments, defence air-crafts and warships.

Atomic Energy (except in the areas related to the operation of nuclear power and applications of radiation and radio-isotopes to agriculture, medicine and non-strategic industries).

Railways transport.

All other CPSEs are considered as non-strategic.

Maharatna/Navratna/Miniratna status for some Public Sector Undertakings

The status of Maharatna, Navratna, Miniratna to CPSEs is conferred by the Department of Public Enterprises to various Public Sector Undertakings. These are CPSEs of high market capitalization, gross turnover and profitability and have greater autonomy in its functioning.

Maharatna

A company qualifying for the Maharatna status should have an average annual turnover of Rs. 20,000 crore during the last three years against Rs. 25,000 crore prescribed earlier. The average annual net worth of the company should be Rs. 10,000 crore.

The Maharatna status empowers mega CPSEs to expand their operations and emerge as global giants. The coveted status empowers the boards of firms to take investment decisions up to Rs. 5,000 crore as against the present Rs. 1,000 crore limit without seeking government approval. The Maharatna firms would now be free to decide on investments up to 15% of their net worth in a project, limited to an absolute ceiling of Rs. 5,000 crore.

Examples:

1.Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited

2.Coal India Limited

3.GAIL (India) Limited

4.Indian Oil Corporation Limited 

5.NTPC Limited 

6.Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited 

7.Steel Authority of India Limited 

Navratna 

The Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) fulfilling the following criteria are eligible to be considered for grant of Navratna status:  

• Having Schedule ‘A’ and Miniratna Category-1 status. 
• Having at least three ‘Excellent’ or ‘Very Good’ Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) ratings during the last five years.  The Navratna status empowers PSEs to invest up to Rs. 1,000 crore 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. 1,000 crore. They also enjoy the freedom to enter joint ventures, form alliances and float subsidiaries abroad.  

Examples: 

1.Bharat Electronics Limited 

2.Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited 

3.Engineers India Limited 

4.Hindustan Aeronautics Limited 

5.Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited 

6.Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited 

7.National Aluminium Company Limited 

8.National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited 

9.NMDC Limited 

10.Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited 

11.Oil India Limited 

12.Power Finance Corporation Limited 

13.Power Grid Corporation of India Limited 

14.Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited 

15.Rural Electrification Corporation Limited 

16.Shipping Corporation of India Limited 

Miniratna

Category-I For Miniratna Category I status, the CPSE should have made profit in the last three years continuously, the pre-tax profit should have been Rs. 30 crore or more in at least one of the three years and should have a positive net worth. For category II, the CPSE should have made profit for the last three years continuously and should have a positive net worth. Miniratnas can enter into joint ventures, set subsidiary compa- nies and overseas offices but with certain conditions. This desig- nation applies to PSEs that have made profits continuously for the last three years or earned a net profit of Rs. 30 crore or more in one of the three years.  

Category-II Category II miniratnas have autonomy to incurring the capital expenditure without government approval up to Rs. 300 crore or up to 50% of their net worth whichever is lower.

Examples: 

1.Airports Authority of India 

2.Antrix Corporation Limited 

3.Balmer Lawrie & Co. Limited 

4.Bharat Dynamics Limited 

5.BEML Limited 

6.Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited 

7.Bridge & Roof Company (India) Limited 

8.Central Warehousing Corporation 

9.Central Coalfields Limited 

10.Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited 

11.Cochin Shipyard Limited 

Jobs & Career

The best way to hunt for jobs in the central and states corporate sector is to visit their websites for emerging job opportunities and the methodology of recruitment with details of domain knowledge and technical expertise expected. Most of the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) have their own recruitment procedures. This sector provides job opportunities to both technical and nontechnical personnel. 

There are two ways through which a PSU hires:

1. Oncampus Selection All these PSUs have a list of campuses that they visit every year for recruiting graduates. The list is decided by the recruitment committee of respective PSUs and generally consists of Tier 1 colleges. The company visits the campus, interviews the list of shortlisted candidates (shortlisting is done on the basis of graduation, SSC and HSC score) and then hires the candidates accordingly.
2. Offcampus Recruitment DriveThe majority of the recruitment is done through the off-campus recruitment process conducted by each of these PSUs. The information is published in all the newspaper dailies and also mentioned on the respective websites. 

• Initially the candidates are filtered according to the marks obtained in B.Tech/BE, 12th & 10th. After applying the cut-offs the list of candidates is prepared for the written round. 

• The written round consists of multiple-choice questions of the relevant subject discipline of the candidate. 

• After clearing the written, the shortlisted candidates are interviewed by a panel.  
• After clearing the Personal Interview the candidate is finally selected as Graduate Engineer Trainee (GET).  

GATE Advantage Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is an all-India examination administered and conducted jointly by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) for admission into their post-graduate programmes. Some of the PSUs also consider GATE score and give preference to candidates in the written round of their selection securing a decent score. There are also some PSUs (like ISRO, NTPC, IOCL, IOC) which give direct interview calls to the candidates solely on the basis of their GATE score. The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PSEB) is responsible for selection and placement of personnel in the posts of Chairman, Managing Director or Chairman-cum-Managing Director (Level-I), and Functional Director (Level-II) in PSEs as well as in posts at any other level as may be specified by the Government.  

Exam Structure for Some of the PSU

Selection Procedure in PSUs (Non-GATE) The usual selection procedure followed by majority of PSUs is through Written Examination of objective type questions followed by Interview and Group Discussion. 

STAGE – I Written Examination. Duration: 1—3 hours (Avg. 2 hours) 

• Written exam of various PSUs can be divided mainly into 4 sections:- 

• Technical 
• Aptitude & reasoning 
• English & reading comprehension 
• General awareness & current affairs 

Technical: 

• 60 — 120 questions (exact no. varies for different PSUs) 
• Average no. of questions – 80 

Aptitude & Reasoning: 

• Quantitative reasoning (speed-distance, percentage, profit- loss etc), Maths of 10th std level, figure based questions etc.  English & RC 
• Reading comprehension, questions based on vocabulary and English grammar etc.  General Awareness & Current Affairs 

• Current affairs and questions based on general knowledge 
• Some PSUs ask specific questions related to their institutions in this section eg:- DRDO asks about its labs in India (1 or 2 questions).  Stage — II Interview/Group Discussion Personal Interview: 
• Maximum stress on testing the technical knowledge of the candidate. 
• Percentage of HR questions limited to the general introduction, work experience (if any), hobbies etc.  

Group Discussion: 

• Average duration is 20-30 minutes. 
• Usually easy topics are given for discussion and topics on environmental and technical issues can also be given. 

• Apart from these, there can be an additional stage in some of the PSUs where only short-listed candidates are allowed to appear for the written exam. All the applicants fulfilling the eligibility criteria are screened again on the basis of their percentage in B.Tech primarily and depend- ing upon the number of vacancies. Only selected candi- dates are called for the written exam. eg ISRO, BHEL etc. 

• Some PSUs don’t hold interview as a part of their selection procedure e.g. – BSNL (JTO). 

• Though it has not ever been declared by any PSU, the general trend seen in according weightage to different stages in the final selection is:- Written – 70-85% Interview — 15-30% GD – 5%  Exam-Date: 

• Throughout the year. 
• Entrance exam of different PSUs are held at different times during the year. 

• Peak duration during which maximum exams occur – May – September.