The Centre’s dividend receipts from Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) have exceeded the revised estimate (RE) of Rs 43,000 crore for the current financial year. The Centre on Monday received Rs 3,955 crore in fresh tranches of dividends from three CPSEs, bringing the total such receipts in FY23 to ‘43,172 crore.

“Government has respectively received about Rs 2106 crore, Rs 1791 crore and Rs 58 crore from NTPC, PGCIL, and Engineers India as dividend tranches,” department of investment and public asset management (Dipam) secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey tweeted.

FE had reported on February 23 that the Centre’s dividend receipts will likely cross Rs 50,000 crore in FY23, thanks to robust payouts by energy, power and commodity firms.

Dividend revenue from the CPSEs in February and March would be aided by fresh payments by NTPC, Coal India, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, NHPC, Power Grid, Power Finance Corporation and NMDC, an official said.

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ONGC is slated to pay an additional dividend of Rs 2,960 crore while Coal India is to pay a tranche of Rs 2,240 crore before end-March.

Despite windfall taxes on domestic crude production, state-run ONGC reported a robust 26% year-on-year rise in net profit to Rs 11,045 crore for the quarter that ended December 31. Similarly, Coal India’s post-tax profit during Q3FY23 rose sharply by 69% on the year to Rs 7,719 crore.

Higher CPSE dividends could act as a buffer for the government if it fails to meet the revised disinvestment target of ‘50,000 crore for the current fiscal year. Disinvestment receipts stood at Rs 31,106 crore so far in FY23 or 62% of the RE. The government is banking on the sale of a portion of its residual 29.54% stake in Vedanta-controlled Hindustan Zinc to meet the disinvestment target for FY23.

Following about Rs 30,000 crore shortfall in dividend/surplus receipts from the Reserve Bank of India in FY23, the Centre has lowered dividend receipts from banks and financial institutions by 45% to Rs 40,953 crore in FY23RE.

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Officials are confident that the Centre will be able to meet the FY23RE non-tax revenue target of ‘2.62 trillion, which is slightly less than the ‘2.69 trillion set in BE.

The Centre had garnered Rs 59,000 crore in dividends from CPSEs in FY22, 28% more than the target of Rs 46,000 crore for the year, thanks to a sharp rise in prices of commodities like metals, mining and petroleum, which boosted the profits of these firms.