The promoters currently hold 52.74 per cent stake inthe company and 83 per cent of their holding is pledged.
The buyback could raise promoter stake to about 58 percent, sources said.
The company's board will meet on March 19 to considerthe buyback and an interim dividend.
"The company's buyback will be within the window of 10per cent of the reserves as this does not require anyshareholder's nod," sources told .
Based on the current level of share price, the size ofthe buyback could be between Rs 900-1000 crore, they said.
As on March 2019, Emami had free reserves of over Rs2,000 crore.
In February, the promoters had entered into anagreement to sell their cement business to Nirma to pare debtat the promoter level and the sale process is expected to becompleted by June.
Meanwhile, an interim dividend will boost retailshareholders' morale amid volatility in the capital marketsfollowing the coronavirus scare, according to analysts.
The latest Union budget had proposed that dividenddistribution tax (DDT) will be levied on the recipients, whichis set to adversely impact the high bracket taxpayers. Theeffective DDT rate was 20.56 per cent. BSMBDC BDC