Winning Bizness Desk

Mumbai. The Union Government will get huge earnings in the form of dividend from the listed Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). As the final dividend proposed by the PSUs indicate, the government expects a net dividend of about Rs 63,000 crore from a listed PSU for FY23, which will be the highest ever dividend. The amount of dividend will be about 25 per cent more than the Rs 50,600 crore received in FY2022. The total dividend income to the government for FY23 may increase further as PSUs like GAIL (India), Hindustan Copper and Balmer Lawrie are yet to disclose the final dividend. Government banks, RBI and financial institutions had announced a dividend of Rs 1.05 lakh crore for the financial year 2023. This amount will be reflected in the accounts of FY 2024. Last month, the RBI board had approved Rs 87,416 crore as dividend to the government for FY23.

Double to that of last year

The dividend the government is expected to get in FY23 is almost double the Rs 29,000 crore dividend it received in FY-2019 before Covid. Earlier, the government had received the highest dividend of Rs 42,150 crore in FY 2014. But this time the dividend amount can be about 50 per cent more. The contribution of public sector banks and financial institutions to the total dividend received by the government from PSUs could be around Rs 18,000 crore, which is about 56 per cent more than the Rs 11,525 crore expected in FY22. Excluding financial PSUs, PSUs such as Coal India, ONGC, NTPC and PowerGrid are expected to give a dividend of about Rs 45,000 crore to the government for FY23, up 15.4 per cent from Rs 39,059 crore in FY22.

Dividend based on its shareholding

The analysis is based on the interim and final dividend proposed by listed public sector companies for FY2023. The government's share in the dividend is based on its shareholding in these companies. The 67 listed PSUs are likely to distribute a total dividend of Rs 1.02 lakh crore for FY2023, which is higher than the Rs 84,665 crore distributed in FY22. A major portion of the dividend being paid by the public sector in FY 2023 will be reflected in the government's non-tax revenue for FY 2023-24. These figures are indicating that the actual dividend from PSUs will be more than the budget estimate for FY24.