Govt to nudge MFs to include more public sector stocks in portfolio DIPAM secretary

New Delhi, Apr 9 (PTI) The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management will nudge mutual fund houses to include more public sector companies' stocks in their portfolio, DIPAM Secretary Arunish Chawla said on Wednesday.
     Chawla said that the dividend payout by CPSEs (central public sector enterprises) is at an all-time high of Rs 1.50 lakh crore in 2024-25 fiscal and the government wants that common man also reaps the benefit of better corporate performance in the form of dividend.
     CPSEs paid the government Rs 74,016.68 crore dividend in 2024-25, higher than Rs 63,748 crore in 2023-24 and Rs 59,533 crore in FY23.
     According to data, although 65 listed central PSEs account for 10 per cent of the total market capitalisation, they account for about 25 per cent of the overall dividend payout.
     Chawla would be meeting the mutual fund managers soon to highlight the "value creation strategy" adopted by the CPSEs and nudge them to expand their portfolio.
     "We would suggest to fund managers to include PSU stocks in their portfolios so that common investors, senior citizens and minority shareholders can partake in value created by CPSE," Chawla told reporters here.
     He also nudged private sector companies to declare fair dividends to their minority shareholders. "This, together this dividends by CPSEs, would make share market a better place for all," Chawla added.
     As per the government's dividend policy, public sector companies are mandated to pay a minimum annual dividend of 30 per cent of their net profit in a fiscal. However, there is no such set rule for private sector corporates and their annual dividend payout is around 20 per cent.
     CPSEs on the other hand have been paying higher dividend which rose from Rs 1.05 lakh crore in 2022-23 to Rs 1.23 lakh crore in 2023-24 and Rs 1.50 lakh crore in FY25.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)