No, paying dividends is not mandatory. Companies may choose to reinvest profits into the business for growth instead of distributing them as dividends.
The dividend payout percentage is the dividend expressed as a percentage of the share’s face value. For example: If the face value of a share is ₹5 and the dividend paid is ₹42, the payout percentage is (42 ÷ 5) × 100 = 840%.