Dividends have always been Coal India Ltd’s strong suit. This year, however, isn’t looking bright for investors on this count. The company’s interim dividend of ₹5.85 per share, announced last week, is lower than the Street’s expectations. With this, the coal producer’s cumulative dividend so far for this fiscal year stands at ₹13.1 per share. For FY18 and FY17, Coal India’s dividend stood at ₹16.5 and ₹19.9 per share, respectively.
Interestingly, payouts are lower in a year when profits are relatively higher.
“Year to fiscal year 2019 payout of 54% (of net profits) is far lower than that for the past three years when the payout exceeded 125% on every instance,” said analysts from Edelweiss Securities Ltd in a report on 15 March.
