May 21 (Punjab Khabarnama) : The standalone net profit of public sector Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for the fourth (January-March) quarter of the last financial year increased 19 times to Rs 9,869 crore. Due to this, the company had to make a huge one-time provision in the same period last year, due to which its profits were low. The company’s net profit in the same quarter of the last financial year was Rs 528 crore.
According to a statement issued by the company, India’s top oil and gas producer had made a provision of Rs 9,235 crore in the January-March 2023 quarter for disputed taxes for the period April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2022. ONGC’s operating income declined 4.6 percent to Rs 34,637 crore in the January-March quarter. ONGC’s crude oil production in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2023-24 has increased by 4.3 percent to 47.1 lakh tonnes.
For the full 2023-24 financial year (April 2023 to March 2024), ONGC reported its highest-ever single-day net profit of Rs 40,526 crore on revenue of Rs 1.38 lakh crore. Oil production for the entire financial year declined by 0.7 percent to 18.4 million tonnes. The company has declared a total dividend of 245 per cent (Rs 12.25 on each share of face value Rs 5) with a total payout of Rs 15,411 crore. This includes an interim dividend of 195 per cent (Rs 9.75 per share) already paid during the year and a final dividend of 50 per cent (Rs 2.50 per share) approved by the Board of Directors.