Milking the public sector

The decision by the Government of India, the principal owner of Coal India Limited (CIL), which enjoys a monopoly over coal mining in India, has ensured that the company has announced a very generous interim dividend, of Rs 29 a share. This means the company will pay out a total of Rs 18,317 crore; Rs 16,489 crore of that will go to the government - which will also levy a dividend distribution tax of 17 per cent, meaning that its total revenue from the transaction is around Rs 19,600 crore. By way of comparison, last year's dividend from CIL was only Rs 14 a share.

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