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1947 - 1960 During the pre-independence period, the Assam Oil Company in the northeastern and Attock Oil company in northwestern part of the undivided India were the only oil companies producing oil in the country, with minimal exploration input. The major part of Indian sedimentary basins was deemed to be unfit for development of oil and gas resources. After independence, the national Government realized the importance oil and gas for rapid industrial development and its strategic role in defense. Consequently, while framing the Industrial Policy Statement of 1948, the development of petroleum industry in the country was considered to be of utmost necessity. Until 1955, private oil companies mainly carried out exploration of hydrocarbon resources of India. In Assam, the Assam Oil Company was producing oil at Digboi (discovered in 1889) and the Oil India Ltd. (a 50% joint venture between Government of India and Burmah Oil Company) was engaged in developing two newly discovered large fields Naharkatiya and Moran in Assam. In West Bengal, the Indo-Stanvac Petroleum project (a joint venture between Government of India and Standard Vacuum Oil Company of USA) was engaged in exploration work. The vast sedimentary tract in other parts of India and adjoining offshore remained largely unexplored. In 1955, Government of India decided to develop the oil and natural gas resources in the various regions of the country as part of the Public Sector

development. With this objective, an Oil and Natural Gas Directorate was set up towards the end of 1955, as a subordinate office under the then Ministry of Natural Resources and Scientific Research. The department was constituted with a nucleus of geoscientists from the Geological survey of India. A delegation under the leadership of Mr. K D Malviya, the then Minister of Natural Resources, visited several European countries to study the status of oil industry in those countries and to facilitate the training of Indian professionals for exploring potential oil and gas reserves. Foreign experts from USA, West Germany, Romania and erstwhile U.S.S.R visited India and helped the government with their expertise. Finally, the visiting Soviet experts drew up a detailed plan for geological and geophysical surveys and drilling operations to be carried out in the 2nd Five Year Plan (1956-57 to 1960-61). In April 1956, the Government of India adopted the Industrial Policy Resolution, which placed mineral oil industry among the schedule 'A' industries, the future development of which was to be the sole and exclusive responsibility of the state. Soon, after the formation of the Oil and Natural Gas Directorate, it became apparent that it would not be possible for the Directorate with its limited financial and administrative powers as subordinate office of the Government, to function efficiently. So in August, 1956, the Directorate was raised to the status of a commission with enhanced powers, although it continued to be under the government. In October 1959, the Commission was converted into a statutory body by an act of the Indian Parliament, which enhanced powers of the commission further. The main functions of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission subject to the provisions of the Act, were "to plan, promote, organize and implement programmes for development of Petroleum Resources and the production and sale of petroleum and petroleum products produced by it, and to perform such other functions as the Central Government may, from time to time, assign to it ". The act further outlined the activities and steps to be taken by ONGC in fulfilling its mandate.

1961 - 1990 Since its inception, ONGC has been instrumental in transforming the country's limited upstream sector into a large viable playing field, with its activities spread throughout India and significantly in overseas territories. In the inland areas, ONGC not only found new resources in Assam but also established new oil province in Cambay basin (Gujarat), while adding new petroliferous areas in the Assam-Arakan Fold Belt and East coast basins

(both inland and offshore). ONGC went offshore in early 70's and discovered a giant oil field in the form of Bombay High, now known as Mumbai High. This discovery, along with subsequent discoveries of huge oil and gas fields in Western offshore changed the oil scenario of the country. Subsequently, over 5 billion tonnes of hydrocarbons, which were present in the country, were discovered. The most important contribution of ONGC, however, is its self-reliance and development of core competence in E&P activities at a globally competitive level.

After 1990 The liberalized economic policy, adopted by the Government of India in July 1991, sought to deregulate and de-license the core sectors (including petroleum sector) with partial disinvestments of government equity in Public Sector Undertakings and other measures. As a consequence thereof, ONGC was re-organized as a limited Company under the Company's Act, 1956 in February 1994. After the conversion of business of the erstwhile Oil & Natural Gas Commission to that of Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited in 1993, the Government disinvested 2 per cent of its shares through competitive bidding. Subsequently, ONGC expanded its equity by another 2 per cent by offering shares to its employees. During March 1999, ONGC, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) - a downstream giant and Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) - the only gas marketing company, agreed to have cross holding in each other's stock. This paved the way for long-term strategic alliances both for the domestic and overseas business opportunities in the energy value chain, amongst themselves. Consequent to this the Government sold off 10 per cent of its share holding in ONGC to IOC and 2.5 per cent to GAIL. With this, the Government holding in ONGC came down to 84.11 per cent. In the year 2002-03, after taking over MRPL from the A V Birla Group, ONGC diversified into the downstream sector. ONGC will soon be entering into the retailing business. ONGC has also entered the global field through its subsidiary, ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL). ONGC has made major investments in Vietnam, Sakhalin and Sudan and earned its first hydrocarbon revenue from its investment in Vietnam.

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ONGC has been ranked at 198 by the Forbes Magazine in their Forbes Global 2000 list for the year 2007.[5] ONGC has featured in the 2008 list of Fortune Global 500 companies at position 335,[6] a climb of 34 positions from rank of 369 in 2007. ONGC is ranked as Asias best Oil & Gas company, as per a recent survey conducted by US-based magazine Global Finance 2nd biggest E&P company (and 1st in terms of profits), as per the Platts Energy Business Technology (EBT) Survey 2004 Ranks 24th among Global Energy Companies by Market Capitalization in PFC Energy 50 (December 2004). Economic Times 500, Business Today 500, Business Baron 500 and Business Week recognizes ONGC as most valuable Indian corporate, by Market Capitalization, Net Worth and Net Profits.[7]

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In the Year 2006 a Commemorative Coin set was released to mark 50 Years of ONGC. State Bank of India is the only other organisation that has a commemorative released.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) (NSE: ONGC, BSE: 500312) is an Indian state-owned oil and gas company headquartered at Dehradun, the capital of Uttaranchal (aka Uttrakhand). It is a Fortune Global 500 company ranked 413,[2] and contributes 77% of India's crude oil production and 81% of India's natural gas production. It is the highest profit making corporation in India, according to filings with the BSE of latest quarter results External Link. It was set up as a commission on 14 August 1956. Indian government holds 74.14% equity stake in this company. ONGC is one of the Asia's largest and most active company involved in exploration and production of oil.[3] It is involved in exploring for and exploiting hydrocarbons in 26 sedimentary basins of India. It produces about 30% of India's crude oil requirement. It owns and operates more than 11,000 kilometres of pipelines in India. It is one of the highest profit making companies in India. In 2010, it stood at 18th position in the Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings.[4]

A turning point in the history of Indias oil sector was in 1994. While the oil sector was on the backburner of India's political realm for some time, is was brought to the forefront by the privatization of India's leading oil E&P organization, the ONGC. Simultaneously, there were steps taken for the enhancement of production on the Bombay High oil fields as the result of a INR 150 billion development investment. One of Asia's largest oil E&P companies, ONGC became a publicly held company as of February 1994, following the Indian government's decision to privatize. This privatization was conceived and achieved (sweat equity) to a great extent by ONGCs influential Association of Scientific and Technical Officers (ASTO) spearheaded by the then Bombay top executives Ganesh P. Shahi and Amarjit S. Jowandha (DGM and Head - Management Services Group too) who worked closely with the then ONGC CMDs S. K. Manglik and S.L. Khosla, IAS and with Dr. Vijay Kelkar, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India, among others. Amarjit S. Jowandha was able to usher in change from his imbibed learnings, inter alia, from his alma mater University of Bombay [Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (also referred to as JBIMS or just Bajaj]. Eighty percent of ONGC assets were subsequently owned by the government, the other 20% were sold to the public. At this time, ONGC employed 48,000 people and had reserves and surpluses worth INR 104.34 billion, in addition to its intangible assets. The corporation's net worth of INR 107.77 billion was the largest of any Indian company. After its initial privatization, ONGC had authorized capital of INR 150 billion: it also met its need to raise INR 35 billion to invest in viable oil and gas projects. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) had also set a deadline for privatizing and restructuring at 30 June 1994, if loans were to be granted for development of two ONGC projects. As a consequence of the successful privatization, the loans were granted - US$267 million for development of Gandhar Field, and US$300 million for the gas flaring reduction project in the Bombay Basin. The successfully formulated and implemented privatization strategy put ONGC at par with other large multinational and domestic oil companies.

Type Industry Founded Headquarters Key people Products Revenue Operating income Net income Total assets Total equity Employees Website

State-owned enterprise Public (NSE: ONGC, BSE: 500312) Oil and Gas 14 August 1956 Dehradun, India A. K. Hazarika (Chairman & MD) Petroleum Natural gas Petrochemicals US$ 22.599 billion (2010)[1] US$ 6.752 billion (2010)[1] US$ 4.381 billion (2010)[1] US$ 37.153 billion (2010)[1] US$ 22.887 billion (2010)[1] 32,826 (2010)[2] www.ONGCIndia.com

ONGC platform at Bombay High in the Arabian Sea

Prime Minister hands over Public Sector Company of the Year Award to ONGC March 24, 2005,ONGCNews ONGC has bagged the Business Standard Star Public Sector Company Award for 2004, in the Public Sector category. The Award was handed over by the Honble Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to ONGCs C&MD Mr. Subir Raha, at a function held at New Delhi on March 24, 2005 coinciding with the 30th anniversary of Business Standard. The selection for this Award was made by the editors of Business Standard the well-known Business publication. Quantitative parameters and qualitative judgments were combined by the jury to arrive at the selection. For the last 30 years, the editorial integrity of Business Standard has been widely acclaimed at all quarters. This leading business daily (whose shares are held by Financial Times also) has been chronicling changes in Indian business for the last three decades - and has also helped shape public policy. The Annual Awards of Business Standard recognizes those corporate achievers who have made the changes possible. The achievements made by ONGC under the stewardship of Mr. Subir Raha especially in turning around MRPL and also securing overseas hydrocarbon acreages in Russia and Sudan, were important considerations behind the Award. The cream of the business community was in attendance to witness the Award ceremony ONGC crowned as the Star Company in the Public Sector - at Taj Palace, on the evening of March 24. TRAIs Chairman Pradeep Baijal, Bhartis Sunil Mittal, HDFCs Deepak Parikh, Uday Kotak, are some of the names which witnessed the Awardees receiving the Awards from the architect of economic reforms in the country - Dr. Manmohan Singh. While complimenting the Awardees, the Honble Prime Minister said, I am sure they will do more for their companies and India in times to come. This financial year has proved to be good for ONGC as far as Awards are concerned. Apart from the individual awards secured by ONGCs C&MD Mr. Subir Raha himself, a number of corporate awards have come ONGCs way. The Greenest Company in India, Biggest Wealth Creator, Asias Best Oil and Gas Company, Excellence award in Cost Management, Award on Corporate Social Responsibility, Best Corporate Initiative in Sports and now the Star Public Sector Company.