Public sector undertakings (PSUs) — known for their generous payouts — have once again doled out a record dividend to their shareholders. On the back of improved earnings and buoyant markets, state-owned entities, including banks have declared hefty dividends in FY23, that crossed Rs 1 lakh crore mark for the second year in a row, data sourced from Bloomberg showed.

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The aggregate dividend for about 90 listed PSUs stood at Rs 1 lakh crore in FY23, in which government holds nearly 61 percent as of March 2023. The raining corporate dividends will further enhance funds in the government exchequer as it already received Rs 87,416 crore as a dividend from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Moreover, the bumper dividends from corporates and RBI will provide some cushion to the government for meeting its higher capex spending target without impacting its fiscal deficit goals.

Interestingly, five companies — Coal India, ONGC, Power Grid Corp Of India, State Bank of India (SBI), and NTPC — account for 56 percent of the total dividend announced for the year.

Coal India, the highest dividend-yielding stock on Nifty50, declared dividends worth Rs 14,945 crore for FY23. That was followed by ONGC with Rs 14,153 crore. While Power Grid and SBI distributed over Rs 10,000 crore as dividends, NTPC stands fifth by distributing Rs 7,030 crore.

Source: Bloomberg

The dividend per share (DPS) of SBI increased by 59.2 percent to Rs 11.30 in FY23 as the net profit of the country's largest lender surpassed the Rs 50,000-crore mark, the first-time annual profit for any bank in India.

"We are very clearly focused on this, that we will only plow back profit, and we will create value for our existing shareholders. Those who have stayed with us through that -- the thick and thin, we will work for them, we will create value for them," said Dinesh Kumar Khara, chairman of SBI, post Q4 results.

Out of the Rs 1 lakh crore payout made by the PSUs, nearly Rs 56,500 crore has come from the top five dividend paying companies in the table mentioned above. Based on its stake in these respective companies, the government will get Rs 32,890 dividend from those companies itself.

While ONGC and SBI declared their highest-ever dividends in FY23, oil marketing companies (OMCs) like BPCL and IOCL reduced their payout. HPCL, which posted a net loss of Rs 6,980 crore, stayed away from declaring any dividends for the year.

First Published:Jun 1, 2023 8:50 PM IST