Govt to get Rs17,308 cr interim dividend from Coal India

State-run coal miner Coal India Ltd (CIL) today declared an interim dividend of Rs27.40 per share, involving a total outgo of Rs20,830 crore, including dividend tax. Government, which will be the top beneficiary, will be getting Rs17,308 crore in interim dividend from CIL.

The CIL dividend payout to government is just Rs1,000 crore short of the Rs18,330 crore the government raised through disinvestment in six PSUs so far this fiscal.

The central government holds 79.64 per cent and will get an equal percentage of the total dividend outlay, a communique said.

For the government, which has been able to mobilise only a little over Rs18,300 crore from divestment so far this fiscal, against the target of Rs69,500 crore due to volatility in stock markets.

The government had also asked cash-rich Coal India Ltd, National Aluminium Co Ltd (NALCO), NMDC Ltd and MOIL Ltd among half a dozen PSUs to buy back shares or announce additional dividend on the top of mandated 30 per cent as an alternative to selling stake through public offers.

The government has raised over Rs18,330 crore this fiscal so far through disinvestment in six PSUs - NTPC (Rs5,030 crore), Rural Electrification Corp (Rs1,608 crore), Power Finance Corp (Rs1,671 crore), Dredging Corp of India Ltd (Rs53.33 crore), Indian Oil Corp (Rs9,369 crore) and Engineers India Ltd (Rs640 crore).