ONGC weighs second interim dividend

The board of state-owned explorer ONGC would be meeting here on Saturday to finalise the second interim dividend to bail out the government, facing a revenue crunch, and help it to meet the revised fiscal deficit target of 3.4 per cent of GDP.

In a stock exchange filing, ONGC said the board would be meeting on March 23 to consider the interim dividend.

ONGC had initially resisted a government demand for a second interim dividend, stating it did not have the surplus money after announcing an interim dividend of Rs 5.25 per equity share on February 14 and approving a Rs 4,022-crore share buyback.