Hindustan Zinc announced an interim dividend of Rs 7 on July 8, amounting to a total outgo of Rs 2,957.72 crore.

The first interim dividend is set to be paid on July 15, 2023, and will be paid within the timeline established by law. Vedanta Limited, which has a 64.92% stake in Hindustan Zinc, will get Rs 1,920 crore in dividends.

Hindustan Zinc had declared a dividend of Rs 75.5 in FY23, implying a cash outflow of $3.9 billion (close to Rs 32,000 crore). The FY23 dividend outgo turned the company from “net cash to net debt”, CLSA analysts had said in a note.

Hindustan Zinc’s FY23 dividend payment was over three times its full-year net profit of Rs 10,520 crore.

As is the norm, a bulk of Hindustan Zinc’s dividend goes to Vedanta Ltd, and most of Vedanta Ltd’s dividend goes to its promoter Vedanta Resources (VRL)

In FY23, Vedanta Ltd’s total dividend outgo was Rs 37,700 crore, double the company’s net profit of Rs 14,503 crore.

On May 31, the London-headquartered VRL said it had repaid $400 million of loans, cutting gross debt to $6.4 billion. The company said it had paid all its loans and bonds due in May and June 2023. Its gross debt stood at $9.7 billion at the end of March 2022.