Maharatna PSUs like the Indian Oil, ONGC and GAIL (India) Ltd were charged with fines for the fourth quarter (consecutively) as they failed to meet listing requirements of having the requisite number of directors on their board. Listing norms mandate that the companies should have independent directors in the same proportion as executive or functional directors. They must also have at least one woman director on the board.
A cumulative fine of Rs. 34 lakh was charged on state-run fuel marketing behemoths like the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), explorers Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL), gas utility GAIL, and refiner Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) for not meeting the listing requirement in the January-March quarter. The PSUs OC, HPCL, BPCL, GAIL, OIL and MRPL in separate filings stated that they were slapped with a fine of Rs. 5,36,900 each for the fourth quarter. ONGC faced a fine of Rs. 1,82,900, as its board was short of just one independent director.
The companies were slapped a fine of Rs. 5,42,800 each for the third quarter (October-December 2023). They had faced a similar fine for the second quarter (July-September 2023). For non-compliance in April-June 2023, ONGC bore the brunt of Rs. 3.36 lakh in fines, IOC Rs. 5.36 lakh and GAIL Rs. 2.71 lakh fine. HPCL and BPCL were each asked to pay a Rs. 3.6 lakh fine, while Oil India faced a penalty of Rs. 5.37 lakh.
