SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 21 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 25 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

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The term 'Navratnas' in public sector reform refers to:

(a)Public enterprises given full privatization
(b)Public enterprises granted autonomy for better performance
(c)Subsidy-driven rural firms
(d)Firms eligible for WTO support

Answer

Why

Correct — B. NCERT's Class XI text explains that, to improve efficiency and help them compete in a liberalised global environment, the government declares some public sector enterprises maharatnas, navratnas and miniratnas.

These firms get greater financial, managerial and operational autonomy in running the company. They stay in the public sector: the status frees their decisions, not their ownership. Option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Public enterprises given full privatization — Status is not a sale. NCERT defines privatisation as shedding government ownership or management, while a Navratna stays a government company with more freedom to decide.
(c)
Subsidy-driven rural firms — Navratnas are large, profit-making central enterprises picked for performance, not subsidy-driven rural firms. A company must already be a Miniratna before it can become a Navratna.
(d)
Firms eligible for WTO support — The status is conferred by the Government of India on its own central public sector enterprises. The WTO plays no part in granting it.

Concept

The Ratna scheme grades central public sector enterprises by performance and grants autonomy to match.

Navratna status was first given to nine enterprises in 1997. A Navratna can invest up to ₹1,000 crore or 15% of its net worth in a single project without explicit government approval.

The higher Maharatna tier was added later, and Miniratna Categories I and II sit below. To qualify as a Navratna, a Miniratna must score at least 60 out of 100 on the government's performance parameters.

The name comes from the navratnas, the nine jewels of a royal court. NCERT's box cites the court of King Vikramaditya, and the Mughal emperor Akbar's nine celebrated courtiers carry the same name.

Key facts

Navratna status was first granted to nine central public sector enterprises in 1997.
A Navratna may invest up to ₹1,000 crore or 15% of its net worth in one project without explicit government approval.
The tiers, from the top, are Maharatna, Navratna, Miniratna Category I and Miniratna Category II.
NCERT: the status gives greater financial, managerial and operational autonomy.

Study next

Disinvestment and privatisation under the 1991 reformsMaharatna and Miniratna eligibility criteriaThe Department of Public Enterprises and CPSE classification

Common traps

Equating autonomy with privatisation: Navratnas remain government-owned.
Linking the status to the WTO because NCERT discusses it in the same chapter as globalisation.

Public sector reform also appears at 19 Sep 2025, 09:00, GA Q.23, an Assertion-Reason item on criticism of disinvestment, and the word's origin at 11 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.10, which asks for one of Akbar's Navratnas (keyed Tansen).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Economic Scene — all 92 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.