The finance ministry has asked state-run oil companies to shell out an interim dividend of Rs 2,600 crore (Rs 26 billion) for the year to March 2003, a government official told Reuters on Thursday.
"The proposal of an interim dividend was discussed in a meeting of senior officials of the petroleum ministry and the finance ministry," the official, who did not want to be named, said.
He said exploration firm Oil and Natural Gas Corp may have to contribute Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) because it is expected to report significantly higher profit this year due to rising crude oil prices.
Other companies in the $15-billion sector include cash-rich privatisation candidates Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd.
The official said the government was prompted to tap oil companies for a dividend to meet its revenue targets for the fiscal year that ends in March.
The government has been unable to rein in its stubbornly high fiscal deficit, which has worsened due to a huge slippage in the privatisation target.
India aims to curb its fiscal deficit to 5.3 per cent of GDP for the current year from 5.7 per cent in the year to March 2002. The combined fiscal deficit of the central and state governments is about 10 per cent of GDP.
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