Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilisers and Steel Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan today handed over a cheque for Rs. 638.04 crore to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh as final dividend to the Government of India for FY '08 on behalf of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). The total final dividend paid by SAIL to its shareholders for FY '08 amounts to Rs. 743.47 crore, equalling 18% of the company's paid-up equity capital of Rs. 4130.4 crore, of which 85.82% is held by the Government. Present on the occasion were Secretary (Steel) Mr. P.K. Rastogi, SAIL Chairman Mr. S.K. Roongta and other senior officials of the Steel Ministry and SAIL.
SAIL had earlier paid interim dividend @ 19% of paid-up equity amounting to Rs 784.78 crore, of which the Government's share was Rs. 673.49 crore. Thus, total dividend payment at the rate of 37% amounting to Rs 1528.25 crore is the highest ever since the company's incorporation. SAIL's contribution to the national exchequer (towards excise and custom duties, corporate tax, dividend, dividend tax, etc.) has been to the order of over Rs. 13,600 crore during 2007-08.
SAIL has regularly and consistently been paying dividend to its shareholders since 2004-05. Out of total dividend of Rs 5963.82 crore since 1991-92 which is about 145% of paid-up equity capital, a sum of Rs 5149.59 crore has been paid to the Govenment as its share of dividend.
During 2007-08, SAIL was able to improve its profitability significantly by several managerial initiatives, including production of value-added steel items, better product-mix, achievement of improved techno-economic parameters, lower interest cost, etc. The financial health of SAIL has been further strengthened during the current financial year with the company's net worth rising to around Rs. 27,000 crore as on 30th September '08.
