Government bonanza: India’s top listed public sector firms pay Rs 1.01 lakh crore tax in FY23

In the recently concluded results season for the March quarter of financial year 2022-23 (Q4FY23), a number of public sector undertakings (PSUs) impressed Dalal Street with their strong numbers. Data from Ace Equity showed that in the 54-stock BSE PSU index, 51 government-owned companies posted profits on an annual basis while only three posted losses in FY23. With net profit surging 57 per cent to Rs 55,648 crore, State Bank of India emerged as the most profitable PSU in FY23. The country’s biggest lender also paid taxes of Rs 18,840 crore. Such PSUs with improving profitability and significant tax payments contribute substantially to filling government coffers. Here are the details of the country’s top 10 most profitable and tax-paying PSUs:

Life Insurance Corporation of India is the second most profitable PSU. The net profit of India’s largest insurer jumped 773 per cent to Rs 35,997 crore year-on-year (YoY) in FY23 from Rs 4,125 crore in FY22. The insurance behemoth also paid taxes of Rs 5,466 crore in FY23. LIC was followed by Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). The petro giant witnessed a 22 per cent decline in net profits at Rs 35,440 crore in FY23 from Rs 45,522 crore in FY22. It also paid Rs 10,273 crore as taxes in FY23.

With a net profit of Rs 28,165 crore, Coal India was at number four on the list. The net profit of the coal major has grown 62 per cent from Rs 17,358 crore in the last financial year. It paid Rs 9,876 crore in taxes in FY23. It was followed by NTPC, whose net profit inched up 1.4 per cent to Rs 16,912 crore from Rs 16,676 crore in the previous fiscal. NTPC paid Rs 6,796 crore tax in FY23.

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Some other top profit-earning PSUs in FY23 were Power Finance Corporation, whose net profit surged 13 per cent to Rs 15,889 crore, followed by Power Grid Corporation of India, which reported a net profit of Rs 15,417 crore (decline of 8 per cent YoY), Bank Of Baroda with net profit of Rs 14,905 crore (growth of 90 per cent), Canara Bank with net profit Rs 11,255 crore (growth of 84 per cent) and REC Ltd. with a net profit of Rs 11,167 crore (11 per cent growth).

The 54 stocks that are part of the BSE PSU index collectively earned Rs 3.40 lakh crore in net profit in FY23, registering a 10 per cent YoY growth from Rs 3.09 lakh crore in FY22. Tax collected from these PSUs increased 8 per cent to Rs 1.01 lakh crore, from Rs 93,749 crore the previous fiscal.

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