SAIL Tells Government It Can’t Pay Dividend For FY18 Due To Loss

State-run steel maker Steel Authority of India Ltd. has informed the government it's not in a position to pay dividend for the year 2017-18 as it suffered a loss of Rs 281 crore in the fiscal, an official said.

When the government asked the public sector unit that whether it was giving dividend the steel major said that at present it is not in net profit, the official said.

Being a shareholder, the government will definitely ask the PSU are you going to give dividend? They are not saying that give dividend, the official said.

A SAIL spokesperson said, "Since we were at loss in 2017-18 we not in a position to pay dividend for the fiscal."

For the current fiscal, the government expects to garner Rs 52,494 crore as dividend from central public-sector enterprises.

The company is required to pay a minimum annual dividend of 30 percent of profit after tax or five percent of the net worth, whichever is higher, according to the government guidelines. In case the company isn't able to comply, exemption has to be obtained from the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management.

SAIL had been exempted from dividend payment in 2015-16 and 2016-17 fiscals due to weak financial performance. It had reported a consolidated loss of Rs 2,756 crore in 2016-17.

The company has been exempted from payment of dividend for the financial years 2015-16 and 2016-17, SAIL had said in its Annual Report 2017-18.