Thukten Zangpo
Druk Holding and Investments’ (DHI) profit after tax (PAT) skyrocketed by 68.52 percent to Nu 8.42 billion last year, up from Nu 4.99 billion in 2022.
This remarkable growth was driven by a 27.2 percent rise in overall revenue, reaching Nu 58.6 billion last year from Nu 46.07 billion in 2022.
The energy and resources sector led this surge, contributing 50.4 percent of total revenue. Compared to 2022, the revenue increased by 17.57 percent or Nu 6.1 billion last year.
The Bhutan Power Corporation achieved a record revenue of Nu 20.21 billion and PAT of Nu 1.15 billion, driven by a 64.2 percent increase in energy sales, with 5,689.74 million units sold last year.
The State Mining Corporation saw a 20.55 percent rise in income to Nu 6.47 billion, with a PAT of Nu 2.27 billion, largely from dolomite sales.
The Druk Green Power Corporation saw a decrease in income by 2.97 percent to Nu 11.67 billion due to a reduction in energy generation.
The communication and transportation segment contributed to 13.5 percent of the total revenue at Nu 10.93 billion.
Bhutan Telecom achieved a revenue of Nu 6.1 billion, with mobile services contributing 88.37 percent or Nu 5.39 billion.
Drukair turned around with a 122 percent increase in passenger volume, reaching a high of 201,979, recording a profit before tax of Nu 291.34 million. This was against the previous year’s loss of Nu 1.15 billion.
The strong performance, especially in the energy and resources and communication and transportation sectors last year, is crucial as Bhutan continues to develop the Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) Special Administrative Region, according to DHI.
Drukair, as the national carrier, plays a pivotal role in enabling the GMC and Bhutan to thrive by efficiently and reliably meeting growing transportation and logistics needs, stated a DHI press release.“Hydropower generation will be a key enabler of the continued development of a developed high-tech economy in GMC and the Kingdom as a whole,” the press release stated.
In financial services and technology investments, the Bank of Bhutan (BoB) saw a growth in digital transactions, with mBOB transactions increasing to Nu 67 billion and goBOB to Nu 482 million.
BoBit, the Bank’s foreign inward remittance service, facilitated a total remittance of AUD 48.01 million. BoB’s PAT increased to Nu 1 billion last year from Nu 676.57 million in the previous year.
At the same time, the DHI’s expenditure saw an increase by 22.79 percent to Nu 40.6 billion last year.
“DHI and Group companies have made strong progress in 2023. Recovery from the pandemic years has been rapid,” the chief executive officer of DHI, Ujjwal Deep Dahal said.
He added that the excellent performance of DHI companies across key sectors sets the group up for further strategic investments and potentially continued strong growth this year. “DHI will continue to invest to accelerate Bhutan’s national development in close partnership with the government and private sector partners, helping to continuously improve quality of life for the Bhutanese people.”
The Group’s total remittance to the government last year stood at Nu 16.4 billion, a 16 percent increase from Nu 14.14 billion in 2022.
This includes a Nu 5.06 billion dividend paid to the finance ministry, an increase of 50.3 percent from the previous year.
The group also made a payment of Nu 2.09 billion as royalty energy, and Nu 488.23 million as royalty and mineral rents.
DHI and Group also remitted a tax of Nu 9.58 billion, an increase of 19.6 percent from Nu 8 billion last year.
DHI stated that the Group’s financial performance enabled DHI to fund a Nu 49.75 million increase in funding for community initiatives and social impact projects.
The strong financial performance was complemented by the successful rollout of high-tech projects funded by DHI such as National Digital Identity programme and the deployment of Bhutanverse, a metaverse version of the Kingdom launched ahead of the FAB23 Bhutan International Conference.