State-owned Coal India Limited (CIL) has paid a record dividend of Rs 1,705.42 crore to the government for the fiscal 2007-08.

This is the highest ever dividend paid by the coal mining giant to the government which constitutes 27 per cent of the paid-up equity of CIL of Rs 6,316.36 crore.

Last year, CIL paid Rs 1,500 crore as dividend which was 23.75 per cent of the equity.

Coal India Ltd. through its subsidiaries offers coal mining and production services, coal based products and mining consultancy. The Public Sector Unit was founded in 1975 and is based in Kolkata, India.

CIL reported a provisional profit before tax and dividend of Rs 9,576.22 crore as against budgeted profit of Rs 8,462.31 crore in fiscal 2007-08 and an increase of 12% over the previous year’s profit of Rs 8,522.22 crore.