Oil & Natural Gas Corporation on Friday declared a 200 per cent interim dividend that will result in an outgo of Rs 2,852 crore (Rs 28.52 billion).
Following the announcement of a dividend of Rs 20 per share, the Centre, which holds 74.14 per cent in ONGC, is expected to mop up over Rs 2,100 crore (Rs 21 billion). Last year, ONGC paid out a 300 per cent dividend.
The interim dividend follows a diktat from the finance ministry. Several blue-chip PSUs have already announced their dividends.
The government is expected to mop up over Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) from the interim dividend pay-outs. Earlier this week, GAIL announced a 40 per cent interim dividend, which will result in a Rs 193 crore (Rs 1.93 billion) payment to the Centre.
On Wednesday, the Indian Oil Corporation board cleared a proposal to pay 45 per cent interim dividend, which will result in an outgo of Rs 526 crore (Rs 5.26 billion). Of this, Rs 431 crore (Rs 4.31 billion) will accrue to the government.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum have also announced interim dividends of 50 per cent each along with Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. Interim dividends from the three PSUs will realise nearly Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) for the government.
Among the unlisted PSUs, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd paid Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) as interim dividend.
The government hopes to make up for the slowdown in tax collections during the first half of the fiscal year, which was mainly due to a shortfall in excise collections, through interim interim dividend receipts and higher than the budgeted divestment proceeds of Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion).
Having already mopped up around Rs 2,600 crore (Rs 26 billion) through the sale of its 5.2 per cent stake in National Thermal Power Corporation, the finance ministry is pursuing disinvestment in PSUs like Power Finance Corporation, PowerGrid Corporation and BHEL.