BHUBNESWAR: Navaratna PSU National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) on Tuesday declared an interim dividend of 56 per cent amounting to Rs 541.22 crore for 2016-17, the highest ever by the company since inception.

Union Coal and Mines Minister Piyush Goyal was presented a cheque for Rs 403.62 crore by NALCO’s CMD Tapan Kumar Chand as interim dividend on the 74.58 per cent shares held by the Government of India in New Delhi today, a company release said.

Goyal appreciated the effective functioning of NALCO despite sluggishness in the market. Other senior officials of the Ministry and NALCO were present on the occasion. The interim dividend of 56 per cent announced by the company works out to Rs 2.80 per share of Rs 5/- each amounting to Rs 541.22 crore on the paid-up equity share capital of Rs 966.46 crore, it said adding this is the highest-ever dividend declared by the company since inception. NALCO, which started its commercial operations in 1987 has been earning profits consistently and has been declaring dividends since 1992. In 2015-16 fiscal, the company had declared a total dividend of Rs.467.13 crore. It may be mentioned that since inception, NALCO has paid a total of Rs.6365 crore as dividend including Rs 5371 crore as share of the Union Government.—PTI