As per the company's financial statement for the quarter ended September 2018, the company's "cash and cash equivalents" were ₹7.71 crore and "other bank balances" stood at ₹159.71 crore, thereby taking the total cash reserves to ₹167.42 crore. In the end of the financial year 2017-2018, the ONGC reported a cash reserve of ₹2,385.98 crore. Although the ONGC funded part of the acquisition through its cash reserves, it had also borrowed over ₹20,000 crore. As its cash reserves plummetted to ₹167 crore, markets experts say it is a worrying situation because the ideal cash reserve for oil explorers should be over ₹5,000 crore, given the risk factor in the work and the need for working capital. The ONGC paid a dividend of ₹8,470 crore in 2017-18, including dividend distribution tax, compared to ₹7,764 crore in 2016-17.

Source: Mint May 05, 2019 15:22 UTC