New Delhi: As financial year 2022-23 comes to a close, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has netted more dividend from PSUs than expected, while missing the revised disinvestment target for the year. According to government data, DIPAM has realised a total of Rs 94,281.86 crore from disinvestment and dividend proceeds in total. Out of this, dividend receipts equal Rs 58,988.34 crore, while disinvestment proceeds equal Rs 35,293.52 crore.
In Budget 2022-23, the Ministry of Finance had set the target for disinvestment proceeds at Rs 65,000 crore. Then, it was later revised to Rs 50,000 crore. The disinvestment receipts earned by the government are lower than the revised estimate by Rs 14,707 crore.
During the financial year, the DIPAM undertook mostly minority stake disinvestments through OFS, IPO, share buyback in PSUs like LIC, ONGC, GAIL, IRCTC and HAL, among others. The government successfully completed the privatisation of steel PSU Neelanchal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL) but it did not hold any equity in the company so the proceeds from the transaction was zero.
The government had revised the estimated receipt through dividends for FY23 to Rs 43,000 crore. And DIPAM closed the year with Rs 58,988.34 crore, which was higher by Rs 15,988 crore.
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