New Delhi, Dec. 26 -- Following years of aggressive hoarding, Indian corporations are starting to dip into their cash reserves to fund dividend payouts and acquisitions, but not capital expenditure (capex).

According to a Mint analysis of data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the pace of cash accumulation hit an eight-year low by September 2025.

The analysis of CMIE data for a common sample of nearly 2,000 listed firms, excluding banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) companies, showed that cash and bank balances rose just 1% year-on-year to about Rs.5.4 trillion by September. The pace is a far cry from the pandemic period, when heightened uncertainty pushed median cash balances up by nearly 15% annually b...