Approval limits in India: what 18 published delegation-of-powers documents show

What we did

We collected delegation-of-powers documents that organisations publish on their own websites: 7 companies, 4 central government documents, 5 universities and institutes, and 2 others. 16 of the 18 are from 2020 or later. We recorded a number only where the document states it, with the line it came from. Several tables came from scanned or jumbled PDFs; we left those figures out, so this article quotes only figures we could read cleanly. The full source list is at the end.

Purchase limits: who can approve how much

The top individual or committee below the final authority, for buying goods and services through an open tender, as printed:

The scale differs hugely, from ₹10 lakh for a Dean or Head of Department at IIT Kanpur to ₹1,000 crore for Coal India’s committee of directors, so compare yourself with organisations of your own size, not with the headline numbers.

Pattern 1: buying from a single supplier gets about a quarter of the limit

In every document that separates the two, the limit for a single-source or proprietary purchase is far lower than for an open tender. Central government rules give a Secretary ₹100 crore for open or limited tenders but ₹25 crore for single or proprietary ones. The Department of Posts gives its Director General ₹30 crore and ₹10 crore. Coal India writes the rule down directly: a resultant single tender gets "25% of DOP".

The logic is simple: without competition, there is less evidence that the price is fair, so a more senior person has to look at it. If your matrix has one limit for all purchases, consider a lower one for single-vendor buys.

Pattern 2: a committee sits between the chief executive and the board

Large bodies rarely send everything above the CEO straight to the board. GRSE’s CMD can place orders up to ₹30 crore; from ₹30 crore to ₹100 crore a procurement sub-committee of the board decides, and only above ₹100 crore the full board. Coal India has a committee of functional directors above its Chairman. Agartala Smart City puts an Executive Committee between its CEO and its board.

A committee band keeps the board for the decisions that need it, and stops one person carrying very large approvals alone.

Pattern 3: write-off limits are tiny compared with buying limits

People who can sign crores of purchases can usually write off only a few lakh:

GRSE’s CMD can award ₹30 crore of contracts but write off only ₹2 lakh. A write-off has no supplier, no tender and no delivery to check, so it is easier to misuse, and documents treat it accordingly. Several also set a lower limit for losses caused by theft, fraud or negligence than for other losses.

Pattern 4: wide powers inside the budget, narrow ones outside it

Capital spending limits depend on whether the item is already in the approved budget. At Coal India, the CMD can sanction new projects in the approved budget up to ₹100 crore, a committee of directors up to ₹250 crore and the board above that, while spending in anticipation of a budget is limited to ₹5 crore at CMD level. GRSE’s CMD has ₹5 crore for capital spending within the capital budget. Shiva Cement’s board approves the annual business plan and any increase in the approved budget.

The budget does part of the approving. Once the board has approved the plan, management can execute within it; anything new goes back up.

Other rules that keep coming back

• No splitting. Andrew Yule: "Sanction should not be split up for the purpose of avoiding the limit". The Department of Posts and Shiva Cement say the same.
• Finance agrees first. The Department of Posts exercises its powers "in consultation with" its finance advisers; GRSE’s CMD acts "in consultation with the Director (Finance)".
• Joint sign-off. At Shiva Cement, two or three named people approve each proposal together, and anything more than 10% above the previous price or budget goes to the next level up.
• Report upwards. IIT (BHU) works approved at Director level are "reported in BoG"; GRSE’s sub-committee minutes go to the board for information.

What this means for your own approval matrix

• Set limits by decision type, not one number per person: purchases, single-vendor buys, capital spend, contracts and write-offs need different limits.
• Give single-vendor purchases a lower limit than competitive ones.
• Keep write-off and waiver limits small, and separate losses from fraud or negligence.
• Add a committee band between the top executive and the board if large approvals are common.
• Write down the no-splitting rule and who must agree from finance.
• Draft it quickly with our free approval matrix builder, or start from the DoA matrix template.

Sources

• Government of India, Delegation of Financial Powers Rules 2024 (copy hosted by NEIGRIHMS)
• Department of Posts, delegation to DGPS and Postal Services Board, 2025
• Ministry of Home Affairs, write-off of losses, 2025
• Coal India, Delegation of Powers booklet
• GRSE, Delegation of Power
• SJVN, Delegation of Powers (2020 edition, web version 2026)
• Andrew Yule, Delegation of Powers of Functional Directors
• Shiva Cement, Delegation of Powers
• IIT Kanpur, Delegation of Financial Power Rules 2022
• IIT (BHU), Delegation of Financial Powers
• Central Sanskrit University, Delegation of Financial Powers
• Agartala Smart City, delegation of financial power (2017)
• Also read but not quoted, because their tables could not be read reliably: BCCL, TANTRANSCO, Railway Board (works tenders, 2024), National Housing Bank, BIT Mesra, University of Jammu.

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