NEW DELHI: Starting 2016, the performance of state-run companies will be benchmarked against private sector peers as part of a new appraisal system being worked out by the government.Maharatna companies with international operations, which are considered the best state enterprises, will be compared with their global equivalents.The seven Maharatna companies are Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Coal India, GAIL (India), Indian Oil Corp, NTPC , Oil & Natural Gas Corp and Steel Authority of India Ltd.The revised appraisal system, with clear quantitative criteria to make assessments easier, will be the part of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) that central public sector enterprises ( CPSEs ) sign with the government setting their financial and non-financial targets for the financial year.“We will be soon be finalising the details of such agreements under which the performance of CPSEs will be more focussed on capacity utilisation and leveraging net worth, against only profitability parameters,” said a government official aware of the development.The government has been pushing CPSEs to increase capital expenditure when private investment has slowed down. For this financial year, the capital spending target for CPSEs had been set at Rs 3.17 lakh crore.As per the latest Public Enterprises (PE) Survey, there were 163 profit-making CPSEs in 2013-14 and their net profit increased 3.92% to Rs 1.49 lakh crore from the previous year.“Companies which will not be able to meet their respective targets will have to shell out special dividends. We want CPSEs to provide the requisite thrust to the Indian economy and hence the new parameters which are more measurable, specific and result-oriented,” the official said.As per the budget for 2015-16, the government expects to get dividends totaling over Rs 1 lakh crore, of which Rs 36,174 crore is estimated to come from CPSEs.The chairman of a state-owned power company said that if the government aims to benchmark performance against global counterparts, it should also look at the internal environment in which they function.“In the case of the power sector, there are projects which are stuck because of various issues such as land acquisition as well as environmental clearances. Unless these structural issues are resolved, the public sector undertakings ( PSUs ) will not be able to optimise their efficiencies,” he added.The 2013-14 Public Enterprises Survey pointed out that 185 projects of CPSEs (costing Rs 500 crore and above) were delayed as of March 2014 and there was a cost overrun of 10.35%.Experts said more measurable targets should be set up to assess the performance of companies.“If the new system has parameters that are more target-oriented and help to increase global competitiveness, then it is a step in the right direction,” said UD Choubey, director-general of SCOPE (Standing Conference of Public Enterprises), the apex body of central government-owned units.