GAIL India Ltd, the nation’s biggest natural gas distributor, is likely to pay 100 per cent or Rs. 10 per share dividend to shareholders in the current fiscal.
GAIL, which is slated to announce the third quarter earning numbers on Wednesday, may split this dividend into two – a 90 per cent or Rs. 9 per share interim dividend and the balance in the final dividend at the end of the fiscal.
Officials said the company had in the previous 2012-13 fiscal paid a total dividend of Rs. 9.60 per share – Rs. 4 per share interim dividend announced in February 20, 2013, and Rs. 5.60 final dividend on September 7.
“GAIL will maintain the dividend payout at Rs. 10 this fiscal,” an official said.
The company, which has a cash balance of Rs. 1,700 crore, will pay the government Rs. 700 crore in dividend this fiscal, almost unchanged from the previous year.
The government holds 57.34 per cent stake in GAIL.
GAIL, they said, has planned a capital expenditure of Rs. 3,105 crore in early part of 2014-15, mostly on laying new gas pipelines.
This compares to Rs. 3,247 crore planned capex for second quarter current fiscal. For the full fiscal 2013-14, GAIL had planned a spending of Rs. 7,511 crore but this is unlikely to be met because of regulatory hurdles delaying pipeline projects in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, officials said.
