SCI gives final dividend cheque of Rs 90.47 crore to T R Baalu

New Delhi, Oct 17 (UNI) The Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways T R Baalu today received the final dividend chque of Rs 90.47 crores from S Hajara, Chairman and Managing Director of the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) for the Year 2007-08.

This is in addition to the 45 per cent Interim Dividend amounting to Rs 101.78 Crore paid earlier, thus making a total amount of dividend paid to the Government of Rs 192.26 Crore.

This dividend amount reflects the earnings on the 80.12 per cent shareholding of the Government of India in the SCI. It may be recalled that SCI has declared a net profit of Rs 814 Crore for the financial year 2007-08.

The Shipping Corporation of India, which has recently been granted the coveted "Navratna" status, is one of the undertakings under the administrative control of the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport&Highways and is the largest shipping company in India, owning a fleet of 78 vessels of deadweight of 4.72 million tonnes, (comprising 38 tankers, 20 bulk carriers, 10 offshore vessels, 3 liner vessels, 3 chemical carriers, 2 LPG/ Ammonia carriers and 2 passenger carriers) which represent about 32 per cent of India's tonnage.

In addition, SCI also manages 50 vessels on behalf of ONGC and other Government departments.

SCI is the first Indian shipping company to enter the LNG transportation business as partner in a joint venture with Mitsui OSK Lines, NYK Line and K-Line. The company has also formed a joint venture company with Forbes Gokak Limited and Sterling Investment Corporation Pvt Ltd for owning and operation of chemical carriers.

This JVC has already placed orders for 4 chemical carriers of about 13,000 deadweight tonnage each.

The SCI is also in the process of implementing an end-to-end integrated IT system covering its entire operations. The Company has also been awarded ISO 9001:2000 certification for implementing a company-wide quality management system.

UNI/BKS AK HT1408