State-run hydro power giant NHPC on Wednesday paid an interim dividend of ₹526.53 crore to the central government for 2018-19.
The dividend payout bank advice was presented to Power Minister R K Singh by NHPC Chairman and Managing Director Balraj Joshi on Wednesday, a company statement said.
The board of directors of the company in its 422nd meeting held on February 8 had declared an interim dividend at the rate of ₹0.71 per equity share i.e. 7.10 per cent of the face value.
The NHPC has more than seven lakh shareholders and total interim payout for 2018-19 worked out to ₹713.20 crore. The company had paid the total dividend of ₹1,436.31 crore at the rate of ₹1.40 per share for 2017-18 that includes an interim dividend of ₹1,149.05 crore at the rate of ₹1.12 per share and final dividend of ₹287.26 crore at the rate of ₹0.28 per share.
According to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management guidelines issued in May 2016 on the Capital Restructuring of CPSEs, each CPSE would pay a minimum annual dividend at the rate of 30 per cent of profit after tax (PAT) or 5 per cent of net worth, whichever is higher.
In line with the guidelines, NHPC had paid the total dividend of ₹1,436.31 crore i.e. 5.07 per cent of net worth and 52.07 per cent of the PAT of the company for 2017-18.
NHPC had earned a net profit of ₹2,138.26 crore for the nine months ended December 2018, against ₹2569.23 crore the year-ago period. The company had earned a net profit of ₹2,758.65 crore for 2017-18.
PTI
