PW Bureau
The low dividends paid by PSBs to the government can be primarily attributed to low profitability and higher provisioning for bad loans
New Delhi: Public sector banks (PSBs) have given the Centre a total dividend of Rs 300 crores only so far, way below the target fixed by the government for the fiscal year that concluded on March 31. This is despite the fact that the government had set a low target for PSBs payout for the concluding fiscal. A source in the finance ministry said, “For the last fiscal year (FY19) the government had already set a low target for dividend payout from the PSBs. Still, the collection is far below the estimated target. The Centre has received only dividend worth Rs 300 crore so far from the PSBs.”
The source added that the government had estimated dividend payouts to be around Rs 6,140 crore in FY19.