Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday received dividend cheques to the tune of Rs 5,304 crore on behalf of the government from three public sector banks for the financial year ended on March 31, 2025. A dividend cheque of Rs 2,335 crore for FY 2024-25 was presented to the Finance Minister, in her North Block office, by Punjab National Bank MD and CEO Ashok Chandra, while Bank of India MD & CEO Rajneesh Karnatak presented a cheque of Rs 1,353 crore.
The third dividend cheque of Rs 1,616 crore for FY 2024-25 was presented to Finance Minister Sitharaman by Indian Bank MD & CEO Binod Kumar. The dividends from the three public sector banks come close on the heels of dividends of Rs 8,076.84 crore and Rs 2,762 crore from the State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda, respectively, last month.
India’s top public sector companies in the financial, power and energy sectors have recorded a robust growth in profit during the January-March quarter of 2024-25, which is expected to further strengthen the government’s fiscal position. The country’s largest lender, the State Bank of India (SBI) and insurance giant, the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), led the charge with a net profit of Rs 18,643 crore and Rs 19,013 crore, respectively.
The SBI’s net profit for the financial year 2024-25 has now soared to Rs 70,901 crore, while LIC has recorded an impressive net profit of Rs 48,151 crore for the year. In the energy sector, Coal India earned a net profit of Rs 9,604 crore during the fourth quarter, while Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) registered a net profit of Rs 7,265 crore, with upstream oil exploration giant ONGC registering a net profit of Rs 6,448 crore during the quarter.
In the power sector, the country’s largest electricity producer, NTPC, recorded a net profit of Rs 7,897 crore, while Power Finance Corporation (PFC), which also comes under the Ministry of Power, earned a robust Rs 8,358 crore. Power Grid Corporation of India also registered a strong profit of Rs 4,143 crore during the January-March quarter.
Apart from higher contributions to the government’s finances through higher dividends, the large public sector enterprises boost revenue through higher payments of corporate taxes. Besides, the large capex plans of these government-owned enterprises play a key role in driving growth and creating jobs in the economy.
Meanwhile, the government has succeeded in meeting its fiscal deficit target for 2024-25, fixed at 4.8 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the revised budget estimate for the year, data released by the Controller General of Accounts on Friday showed.
According to the CGA data, the central government collected Rs 30.36 lakh crore as revenue from both tax and non-tax receipts, which works out to 98.3 per cent of the revised Budget Estimates (RE). The earnings of PSUs constitute an important part of these non-tax receipts.