With several PSUs declaring profits, the government has harvested dividend receipts of over Rs 39,000 crore in this fiscal that are at 90 per cent of the budgeted sum of Rs 43,000 crore even as disinvestment collection lagged for the period.

Economists expect dividend receipts to touch Rs 60,000 crore in the current fiscal.

The latest government data showed receipts at Rs 39,086 crore so far this fiscal are higher by 11 per cent in the same period a year ago.

With disinvestment receipts likely to fall short of the target of Rs 51,000 crore
for this fiscal, the extra dividend will to an extent cover the gap.

Analysts said despite the government reducing its stake in several PSUs, higher commodity prices and a dividend payment policy have increased the payout this fiscal.

In November 2020, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam) issued an advisory to PSUs on a “consistent dividend policy”.

According to the guidelines of 2016, PSUs were to pay 30 per cent of their PAT, or 5 per cent of their net worth, whichever was higher, as dividends.

In its November 2020 advisory, the government said it had noticed that the public sector companies were only paying the minimum levels of dividends, which needed to change.

“CPSEs are advised to strive to pay higher dividends taking into account relevant factors like profitability, capex requirements with due leveraging cash/reserves and net worth,” it added.

The government was, thus, nudging PSUs to pay more attention to their finances so that they had enough profits not only for dividends but also in higher amounts.

Data showed that since the advisory, the government coffers have been swelling.

In 2019-20, the dividend sum was Rs 35,543 crore. It marginally increased in 2020-21, the Covid-19 year, to Rs 39,750 crore. In 2021-22, it jumped to Rs 59,294 crore, and in 2022-23 it fell marginally to Rs 58,998 crore.