Though the perception is that the central public sector enterprises (PSEs) are a drag on the government, their latest dividend figures for 2000-01 reveal that the sector has paid back more than it has got from the government in the form of equity support.
Compared to the dividend declared by the PSEs amounting to Rs 8,259.86 crore for 2000-01, the Centre has given an equity of Rs 8,032.69 crore. Thus, the dividends paid were more than the equity support received by Rs 227.17 crore. The figures for the previous years are equally interesting as in 1999-00 and 1998-99, against an equity support of Rs 6917.64 crore and Rs 5415.40 crore, respectively, the PSUs declared a total dividend of Rs 5437.48 crore and Rs 4894.60 crore, respectively.
Of course because the government does not hold the entire equity in the 85 public sector companies so not all the dividend declared came back to it. But the figures are different from the usual comparisons that are dished out about the public sector.
Even if one compares the dividend with the total budgetary support inclusive of loans the picture does not fade. For instance for 2000-01 the dividend is 78 per cent of the budgetary support of Rs 10493.07 crore, inclusive of equity and loans, given to the PSEs. If the dividends, interest and taxes contributed by the PSEs are calculated for the past three years it comes to Rs 164, 068 crore which is 35 per cent more than the government investment for the same period.
Naturally the highest dividends declared comes from the petroleum sector PSEs which accounted for Rs 3,448.49 crore in 2000-01, while agro-based industries accounted for no dividends at all in 2000-01. The inter-sectoral picture does not change for the earlier years also.
Even though the picture is hardly perfect the percentage of dividends over equity support in 1999-00 and 1998-99 is 78.6 per cent and 90.38 per cent. While the percentage of dividend over total budgetary support in 2000-01, 1999-00, 1998-99 was 78 per cent, 59 per cent and 64.6 per cent respectively.
Yet the performance of central public sector enterprises (PSE) as far as dividends are concerned has seen a considerable improvement from 1999-00 to 2000-01. The fiscal 2000-01 saw a hike of Rs 2822.38 , that is a 51.42 per cent increase, over the dividends of Rs 5437.48 crore in 1999-00. In spite of the better performance Rs 2233.21 crore remains unredeemed in terms of the budgetary support given to the PSEs in 2000-01.
This reveals that there was a significant dip in dividends accrued in 1999-00, when it dropped to 59 per cent of the budgetary support recovered by the government as compared to 64.6 per cent in 1998-99. But the 2000-01 figures show that the PSEs have registered a significant growth, enough for the Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE), an apex organisation of PSEs to claims that PSES should no longer be considered a government liability.
