ONGC told India's Oil Ministry, that the restructure came about as the company realised that, "the forced separation of regular manpower was not possible and competent and experienced professionals could not be attracted by the PSU's pay structure at middle or senior management levels."

"The only practical solution is to form JVs as non-government companies for specific purposes," added the company.

Under the terms of the restructuring proposal, ONGC would have a 50% stake in all seven JVs. The balance - in each firm - would be held by either a financial institution or a strategic partner specialising in that area. By doing this, ONGC hopes to "[identify] non-core activities with profit potential and new business requiring specialisations as areas for forming non-government companies".