Shipping ministry backs dilution of stake in Cochin Shipyard
15 Sep 2009
The ministry of shipping has agreed to a proposal by the department of economic affairs to dilute government's stake in profit-making Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL).
The DEA has proposed the divestment of a uniform 10-per cent stake in all public sector undertakings, shipping secretary A P V N Sarma said.
"We have broadly agreed to the department of economic affairs recommendation. DEA is likely to ask for 10 per cent disinvestment in PSUs," V N Sarma said on the sidelines of an Assocham function.
CSL, the country's largest shipping and ship repair yard and a Category -1 `miniratna', posted a 70 per cent increase in net profit at Rs160 crore for the 2008-09 financial year.
CSL reported a profit of Rs160.07 crore in 2008-09 against Rs93.85 in the previous fiscal (2007-08). The company's net worth has increased from Rs429.42 crore in 2007-08 to Rs566.49 crore in 2008-09.
The company achieved a total shipbuilding income of Rs986 crore during 2008-09 as against Rs582 crore during 2007-08, an increase of 70 per cent. Ship repair turnover during the year was Rs270 crore as compared to Rs252 crore in the previous year.
CSL paid a dividend of Rs19.67 crore to the government, which consists of Re1 per equity share on the 113.28 million fully-paid equity shares of Rs10 each and Rs70 per 1.19 million fully-paid 7 per cent non-cumulative preference shares of Rs1,000 each amounting to Rs83.4 million.
Sarma said the shipping ministry also proposes to sign 20 public private partnership schemes this year for port projects. The ministry is also working on a better taxation regime for shipping companies, he added.
