Money mountains under the PSU Mattress

Public-sector undertakings (PSUs) are famous for their hoards of cash. Although PSUs' total cash and equivalents have fallen in the past five years, the ratio of cash as per cent of market capitalisation still remains high. If they are seen individually, most PSUs are trading at record highs in terms of their cash reserves as per cent of market capitalistion. Cash reserves run as high as 95 per cent in the case of MRPL (Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals). But MRPL is a miscellaneous case. It is an 'indirect' PSU (government doesn't hold it directly but via other PSUs) and its high cash is due to high unpaid creditors. MOIL, a debt-free company, has cash and equivalents of ₹2,940 crore, which are 74.4 per cent of its market capitalisation. Similarly, there are six PSUs in all which have cash of more than 50 per cent of their market capitalisations; and there are 11 PSUs with cash more than 40 per cent of their market caps.