Coal India announces interim dividend; govt to get Rs 17,308 crore

Kolkata: Government will get Rs 17,308 crore in interim dividend from Coal India Ltd as it seeks to explore more options to garner non-tax revenue.

Coal India (CIL) today declared an interim dividend of Rs 27.40 per share and the total outgo will be Rs 20,830 crore, including dividend tax.

The largest beneficiary will be the central government, which holds 79.64 percent and will get a dividend of Rs 17,308 crore, a communique said.

The government has been able to mobilise a little over Rs 18,300 crore from divestment this fiscal till February against the target of Rs 69,500 crore due to volatility in stock markets.

As an alternative to selling stake through public offers, the government had 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 percent.

The government has raised over Rs 18,330 crore this fiscal so far through disinvestment in six PSUs - NTPC (Rs 5,030 crore), Rural Electrification Corp (Rs 1,608 crore), Power Finance Corp (Rs 1,671 crore), Dredging Corp of India Ltd (Rs 53.33 crore), Indian Oil Corp (Rs 9,369 crore) and Engineers India Ltd (Rs 640 crore).