The slump in corporate earnings has affected interim payouts, with only 95 firms declaring interim dividends in the first nine months of this financial year compared with 144 in the corresponding period last year.

Only 60 companies paid interim dividends since March 2008 and 35 entered the list this year so far while 84 have not proposed interim payout this year after paying in the previous financial year. These firms have reported a 19 per cent decline in net profit during the nine months ended December 2008.

The companies which have decided to stay away from interim dividends are mostly from the real estate, non-banking finance and pharmaceuticals sectors.

DLF, Wipro [Get Quote], Larsen and Toubro, Sesa Goa [Get Quote], Gujarat Flurochemicals and Manugraph India [Get Quote], which  paid over 100 per cent interim dividends last year, have refrained from it this time around. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals [Get Quote], Ranbaxy Laboratories [Get Quote] and Zandu Pharmaceuticals paid interim dividends in the range of 50 per cent to 100 per cent last year, also decided against it this year.

The 95 firms, which have decided to continue the practice, are paying Rs 12,824 crore (Rs 128.24 billion) out of the net profit of Rs 55,204 crore (Rs 552.04 billion) in the first nine months of this financial, compared to the Rs 15,180 crore (Rs 151.8 billion) paid by 144 companies from their net profit of Rs 69,935 crore (Rs 699.35 billion) last year.

Public-sector companies shared a majority of the burden of interim payouts with 12 companies paying Rs 8,429 crore (Rs 84.29 billion) from the nine months' profit of Rs 34,211 crore (Rs 342.11 billion). The private sector companies, thus, paid only Rs 4,395 crore (Rs 43.95 billion) from their net profit of Rs 20,993 crore (Rs 209.93 billion).

Among PSUs, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation topped the list with a payout of Rs 3,850 crore (Rs 38.5 billion, followed by the power major NTPC (Rs 2,226 crore), steel major SAIL [Get Quote] (Rs 784 crore) and oil and gas distributor GAIL (Rs 507 crore).

Software services giant Tata Consultancy Services [Get Quote] topped the private sector list with interim payouts of Rs 881 crore (Rs 8.81 billion), followed by personal care giants Hindustan Unilever (Rs 773 crore or Rs 7.73 billion)) and Infosys Technologies [Get Quote] (Rs 573 crore or Rs 5.73 billion).