New Delhi : The government may seek higher dividend from cash-rich central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) to meet the shortfall in direct taxes and lower disinvestment proceeds for current fiscal.
“We are examining the issue of higher dividend from CPSUs,” official sources told PTI. Without naming companies, sources said cash-rich PSUs would be in a position to pay higher dividend, if required. As per the Budget estimates for 2015-16, Rs 36,000 crore is expected to come as dividend from the public sector entities during the current fiscal.
As per norms, profit-making CPSEs are required to declare a minimum dividend of 20 per cent or a minimum pay-out of 20 per cent, whichever is higher. In case of PSUs operating in oil, petroleum, chemical and infrastructure sectors, the minimum divided pay-out should be 30 per cent of the post tax profits. The government expects revenue collection to fall short of the budgetary target by 5-7 per cent, mainly because of subdued growth in direct taxes. Total tax revenues are likely to be around Rs 14 lakh crore in the current fiscal, as against the budget estimate of Rs 14.5 lakh crore.
Besides, there are fears that the government may not meet its disinvestment target. The Finance Ministry is staring at a shortfall of Rs 50,000 crore in disinvestment target for the current fiscal.
