New Delhi, June 9 (IANS) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday received a dividend cheque of Rs 8,076.84 crore on behalf of the government from the State Bank of India (SBI) for the financial year 2024-25.

The cheque was presented to the Finance Minister by SBI chairman CS Setty at her office in the presence of senior officials.

"Smt @nsitharaman receives a dividend cheque of Rs 8076.84 crore for FY 2024-25 from CS Setty, Chairman - @TheOfficialSBI," Nirmala Sitharaman Office posted on social media platform X.

The robust dividend came as 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 SBI and insurance giant Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) led the charge with a net profit of Rs 18,643 crore and Rs 19,013 crore, respectively. 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 Jan-March quarter.

Apart from higher contributions to the government’s finances through higher dividends, the large public sector enterprises boost revenue by 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 showed recently.

According to the CGA data, the central government collected Rs 30.36 lakh crore as revenue as 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.

--IANS

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