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Petroleum ministry asks oil cos to pay lower dividends
New Delhi, Nov 30: To bridge the fiscal deficit gap, the petroleum ministry has asked the six public sector oil companies to pay a total interim dividend of more than Rs 2,725 crore to the government for the current financial year.
New Delhi, Nov 30: To bridge the fiscal deficit gap, the
petroleum ministry has asked the six public sector oil companies
to pay a total interim dividend of more than Rs 2,725 crore to
the government for the current financial year.
These six public sector companies had paid an interim dividend
of Rs 2,687 crore in the previous financial year to check the rising
deficit.
According to highly placed sources, while the ONGC and IOC will pay the dividend at lower rates as compared to previous year, there will be no change in the rate of interim dividend by HPCL, BPCL, GAIL and OIL.
The interim dividend, likely to paid by ONGC in January, will be at least ten percent lower than the last year's level of 170 per cent. The lower dividend is being paid by the ONGC in the wake of lower profits by the company because of higher expenditure in drilling operation as well as exploration. The government, which hold 82 per cent equity in the company, is likely to get around Rs 125 crore lower as dividend.
IOC, which had paid an interim dividend of 50 per cent last year on the lower capital, is expected to pay a dividend of 40 per cent on the increased capital, which works out more than 60 per cent dividend on the previous year's level of equity.
All the public sector companies will held their board meeting later next month and early January to declare dividend.
The sources said that the finance ministry wanted the interim dividend to be higher than last year’s payout, the petroleum ministry pointed out that the profits of oil PSUs this year would be lower than last year and if a higher dividend payout was made, it would affect operations of some companies specially ONGC, which has announced a massive deep water drilling programme this year.
During 2002-03, oil companies had nearly doubled their combined net profit to Rs 23,254.6 crore from rs 12,708.9 crore in 2001-02.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) registered a record Rs 10,000 crore net profit while Indian Oil Corporation's (IOC) profit more than doubled to Rs 6,115 crore.
The profits of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) jumped 95 per cent to Rs 1,537 crore during the year, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd's profits rose 47 per cent to Rs 1250.3 crore, and GAIL (India) Ltd's net rose to Rs 1,639 crore.
Bureau Report
According to highly placed sources, while the ONGC and IOC will pay the dividend at lower rates as compared to previous year, there will be no change in the rate of interim dividend by HPCL, BPCL, GAIL and OIL.
The interim dividend, likely to paid by ONGC in January, will be at least ten percent lower than the last year's level of 170 per cent. The lower dividend is being paid by the ONGC in the wake of lower profits by the company because of higher expenditure in drilling operation as well as exploration. The government, which hold 82 per cent equity in the company, is likely to get around Rs 125 crore lower as dividend.
IOC, which had paid an interim dividend of 50 per cent last year on the lower capital, is expected to pay a dividend of 40 per cent on the increased capital, which works out more than 60 per cent dividend on the previous year's level of equity.
All the public sector companies will held their board meeting later next month and early January to declare dividend.
The sources said that the finance ministry wanted the interim dividend to be higher than last year’s payout, the petroleum ministry pointed out that the profits of oil PSUs this year would be lower than last year and if a higher dividend payout was made, it would affect operations of some companies specially ONGC, which has announced a massive deep water drilling programme this year.
During 2002-03, oil companies had nearly doubled their combined net profit to Rs 23,254.6 crore from rs 12,708.9 crore in 2001-02.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) registered a record Rs 10,000 crore net profit while Indian Oil Corporation's (IOC) profit more than doubled to Rs 6,115 crore.
The profits of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) jumped 95 per cent to Rs 1,537 crore during the year, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd's profits rose 47 per cent to Rs 1250.3 crore, and GAIL (India) Ltd's net rose to Rs 1,639 crore.
Bureau Report