New Delhi:  India's second-largest oil marketing company, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), which is set to be disinvested by the end of this financial year, has paid govt a final dividend of Rs 6,665 crore for 2020-21 fiscal. DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey (IAS) tweeted on Wednesday that the dividend amount includes a special dividend on account of gains especially on the sale of BPCL's stake in Numaligarh Refinery in March 2021. 

"Govt received a final dividend of Rs 6,665 crore from BPCL for the FY 2020-21. This includes special dividend on account of gains especially on the sale of BPCL's stake in Numaligarh Refinery in March 2021," Pandey tweeted.

BPCL had sold its entire 61.5 percent stake in Numaligarh Refinery in Assam in March this year to a consortium of Oil India Ltd and Engineers India and the Assam government for Rs 9,876 crore. Earlier in September this year BPCL CMD Arun Kumar Singh had announced plans to create a 1,000 MW portfolio of renewable power generation capacity and convert 7,000 of its 19,000 petrol pumps into energy stations. The ambitious Rs 1-lakh-crore investment plan is aimed at preparing BPCL for a future where conventional fuels, brown fuels like gas and e-mobility will co-exist.

The government is selling its entire 52.98 percent stake in BPCL. Amongst the groups that have submitted an expression of interest for buying the government's stake are Vedanta Group and private equity firms Apollo Global and I-Squared Capital's India unit Think Gas.

DIPAM secretary had earlier said that the government expects to complete BPCL privatisation in the current fiscal. It is going to be a key milestone for the govt in achieving the Rs 1.75 lakh crore disinvestment target set for 2021-22.

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