Top officials to discuss Navratna status for RVNL tomorrow

RVNL is a category-I mini-ratna central PSE incorporated in 2003.

The government may consider awarding the Navratna status to Rail Vikas Nigam Limited, a public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Railways.

“The cabinet secretary will be holding a meeting of the apex committee on April 6 to consider the proposal for grant of the Navratna status to RVNL, a PSU involved in project implementation and transportation infrastructure development,” an official told Moneycontrol. Top finance ministry officials are likely to attend the meeting.

RVNL is a category-one miniratna central PSE, which was incorporated in 2003. The proposal is being discussed on the back of RVNL winning multiple orders from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the Railways.

RVNL has recently bagged the NHAI order for the construction of Kona expressway in West Bengal and Varanasi- Ranchi-Kolkata Highway in Jharkhand. It has received orders from the Railways to manufacture the Vande Bharat trains.

It also has the order for upgrading to six-lane the Sarkhej-Changodar Section of NH-8A (New NH-47) for Ahmedabad- Bagodara-Rajkot Road on the EPC mode in Gujarat.

RVNL director of operations Rajesh Prasad had earlier told CNBC-TV18 that the company's order book was projected to reach between Rs 75,000 crore and Rs 1 lakh crore in FY24, with 20 percent of the orders being obtained through bidding.

Navratna PSUs include Oil India, BHEL, Hindustan Aeronautics and Shipping Corporation of India. Once a CPSE gets the Navratna status, it secures further financial and operational freedom to invest up to Rs 1,000 crore or 15 percent of its net worth without government approval.