New Delhi : The government may seek special dividend from leading central public sector enterprises (CPSE) to shore up its revenue during the current fiscal.
“It could be one of the options to meet the revenue shortfall arising due to deficit in tax collection or disinvestment proceeds but nothing has been finalised so far on this,” sources told PTI.
The option would be looked into after release of second quarter numbers, sources added. As per norms, profit-making CPSEs are required to declare a minimum dividend of 20 % or a minimum pay-out of 20 % whichever is higher. In case of PSUs operating in oil, petroleum, chemical and infrastructure sectors, the minimum divided pay-out should be 30 % of the post tax profits. Companies like Coal India Ltd, NTPC, ONGC, GAIL, IOC etc may be asked to pay special dividend if government decides so. 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 government may not meet its disinvestment target.
