BEL Pays Rs 24 Cr Interim Dividend

New Delhi, Feb 22 (UNI) Registering a hattrick, the defence public sector undertaking Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) today paid interim dividend to the Government -- Rs 24 crore this time.

A cheque for Rs 242,758,400 -- as interim dividend for the current financial year 2006-07 -- was presented to Defence Minister AK Antony by BEL Chairman&Managing Director VVR Sastry here.

BEL has declared 40 per cent interim dividend to its shareholders -- marking the third consecutive year that the mini-ratna PSU has paid interim dividend.

Minister Antony congratulated the BEL Chairman&Managing Director for the excellent performance of the company and expressed the hope that the defence PSU will keep it up.

Secretary (Defence Production) KP Singh was also present on the occasion.

UNI