IRFC PAYS HIGHEST EVER
DIVIDEND TO RAILWAYS
Indian Railway Finance
Corporation (IRFC)has posted a profit after tax of Rs.291.8 crore
for the year 2001-02 and declared a dividend of 43 per cent amounting
to Rs.100 crore. The dividend cheque was presented by the Managing
Director Shri S. Balachandran, in the presence of senior officials
of the Ministry of Railways, to the Minister for Railways, Shri
Nitish Kumar, at a brief ceremony held at Rail Bhavan today. The
dividend is the highest ever paid by the IRFC to Indian Railways.
The amount is also the highest ever paid by any railway public
undertaking so far.
The Company achieved
the annual borrowing target of Rs.2,185 crore for the fiscal 2001-02.
For the current fiscal 2002-03, IRFC’s borrowing has been pegged
at Rs.3,000 crore. The Company has been accessing domestic as
well as overseas markets through diverse and innovative instruments
with varying tenors to raise a pool of resources at an optimal
cost. The Company has repaid/redeemed Rs.2,530 crore during 2001-02
and has reengineered a number of earlier high cost borrowings
to reduce debt servicing cost.
The Company has been
rated "Excellent" for the fifth year in succession by
the Department or Public Enterprises based on its performance
during 2001-02. All its issues are "AAA" rated and it
has the sovereign rating for the international issues from Standard
and Poor’s. The Company has an asset base of Rs.16,555 crore as
at 31st march 2002 with no NPA in its books. The overhead
to turnover ratio is 0.15 per cent and net profit per employee
stands at Rs.19.45 crore for 2001-02.
