Coal India shares ended 5.51 per cent up on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday after the public sector miner informed the bourses on Tuesday that a second interim dividend for 2020-21 could be under consideration.

A meeting of the board of directors of the company will be held on March 5, 2021 to consider and approve the payment of a second interim dividend for the fiscal. It has fixed March 16, 2021, as the “record date” for the purpose of payment of a second interim dividend on equity shares for the financial year 2020-21.

The stock had reached an intraday high of Rs 149.90 on the BSE before closing at Rs 144.75 a piece.

The board of Coal India last November had approved the payment of interim dividend at Rs 7.50 per share of face value Rs 10.

Coal India’s total paid-up capital is Rs 6,162.73 crore. The government, being the promoter, holds 66.13 per cent as of the quarter ended December 2020 and is a major beneficiary of the dividend payout. In the last five years, the public sector miner has paid a total dividend in excess of Rs 55,000 crore.

Several brokerages remain bullish on Coal India despite e-auction realisations and volume growth remaining under pressure. With power demand showing signs of improvement, volumes are expected to recover in 2021-22.

“Coal India can tide over the current situation given its large cash position,” Motilal Oswal Research said in a report.

Between April 2020 and January 2021, Coal India has produced 453.3 million tonnes (mt) of coal, recording a production growth of 0.4 per cent over the corresponding period of the previous year. Offtake of coal during the period was 462.9mt down 2.2 per cent over the year-ago period.