The government will take home Rs 4,022 crore (Rs 40.22 billion) by way of interim dividend bonanza declared by the state-owned oil companies in the last one week.
The five big oil refiners and oil marketing companies - Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Gas Authority of India - have declared interim dividends for the ongoing financial year.
The six companies have declared a total interim dividend of Rs 5,436 crore (Rs 54.36 billion) for the financial year 2006-07 against Rs 12,123 crore (Rs 121.23 billion) declared in the whole of FY06.
ONGC has declared the highest-ever interim dividend of 180 per cent (Rs 18 per share) for FY07. IndianOil, HPCL and BPCL declared interim dividends of 60 per cent each (Rs 6 per share), while GAIL declared a 55 per cent (Rs 5 per share) interim dividend for FY07.
ONGC will pay Rs 2,855 crore (Rs 28.55 billion), almost 71 per cent of the total dividend payout declared by the six oil companies to the government, on its 74 per cent stake in the company. The company has to pay a total interim dividend of Rs 3,850 crore (Rs 38.5 billion) on the post-bonus paid-up capital of Rs 2,139 crore (Rs 21.39 billion).
IndianOil will contribute Rs 575 crore (Rs 5.75 billion) by way of interim dividend to the government kitty on its 82 per cent stake in the company. The oil company has to pay Rs 701 crore (Rs 7.01 billion) to its shareholders.
The oil companies, which had posted a marginal 1 per cent growth in the previous financial year, have reported more than 70 per cent growth in net profit during the first half (April-September) of the current financial year.
The combined net profit of these oil and gas companies increased 77 per cent to Rs 15,360 crore (Rs 153.6 billion) during April-September this year against Rs 8,663 crore (Rs 86.63 billion) in the same period of the previous year.
BPCL has to pay Rs 144 crore (Rs 1.44 billion) and HPCL Rs 104 crore (Rs 1.04 billion) to the government as interim dividend. BPCL has declared a total dividend payout of Rs 217 crore (Rs 2.17 billion) and HPCL Rs 203 crore (Rs 2.03 billion) for FY07.
The government holds 66 per cent and 51 per cent stakes in BPCL and HPCL respectively.
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