* Nabiullina says 25 percent basic principle intact
* Newspaper says govt changed its policy
MOSCOW, April 22 (Reuters) - Russia will keep the basic dividend policy principle of allocating 25 percent of state companies' net profit unchanged for the time being, Economy Minister Elvira Nabiullina said on Friday.
"We have not moved away from the basic principle, although, in my opinion, dividend policy of large companies should be approached on a more individual basis, as is the case in other countries," Nabiullina told reporters.
Her comments follow a report in the business daily Vedomosti that the government will not demand from state companies that a quarter of their net profits goes to dividend payouts.
The issue of dividends came into focus in recent days after the state pipeline monopoly Transneft said it was not going to increase payouts to preferred shareholders as it needs the money to support its charities, mainly orphanages.
In recent years, the 25 percent has been the going rate the government has demanded from companies in which it holds a controlling stake, and many -- such as bank VTB -- has paid about that much.
But some majors, such as gas monopoly Gazprom has never spent more than 17.7 percent of its bottom line on the payments and Rosneft, the state-controlled oil major, has allocated between 10.5-15.4 percent of income in the past three years on dividends to shareholders. (Reporting by Maya Dyakina; Writing by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)