FinMin may raise FY25 CPSE dividend target in full budget

The finance ministry is likely to raise the CPSE dividend estimates by Rs 5,000 crore to around Rs 53,000 crore for the current fiscal in the full budget to be presented in July.

In the interim budget 2024-25, the government had pegged dividend estimates from non-financial central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) at Rs 48,000 crore for the current fiscal.

"The estimates may go up by about Rs 5,000 crore in the final budget to be presented in July," an official told PTI.The interim budget estimates were based on the estimates in December 2023, and January 2024, and the estimates in the full budget will be higher as we have a better picture of the dividend now, the official added.

The dividend receipts of the government in a particular fiscal include interim dividends announced by state-owned companies during the fiscal, as well as final dividends for the previous fiscal. 

So far in the current financial year, the government has obtained Rs 4,837.25 crore as dividends from the CPSEs.

This includes Rs 3,443 crore as a special dividend from Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL), a public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Telecom.

The dividend receipts in the 2023-24 fiscal stood at Rs 63,000 crore, up from Rs 59,953 crore in the 2022-23 fiscal.