BHUBANESWAR | April 18, 2016: State-run National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) today declared an interim dividend of 25 per cent amounting to Rs 322.16 crore for 2015-16 on the paid-up equity share capital of Rs 1,288.62 crore.

Union Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar was presented a cheque for Rs 260.72 crore by NALCO CMD Tapan Kumar Chand as interim dividend on the 80.93 per cent shares held by Government of India, a company release here.

The interim dividend of 25 per cent means Rs 1.25 per share of Rs 5 each, it said.

Praising the effective functioning of NALCO despite sluggishness in the market, he appreciated the company's all-time high bauxite production of 63.40 lakh tonnes and 19.53 lakh tonnes of alumina in 2015-16.

NALCO, which started its commercial operations in 1987, has been earning profits consistently and has been declaring dividends since 1992. In 2014-15 fiscal, the company had declared a total dividend of Rs 451.02 crore.

It may be mentioned that since inception, NALCO has paid a total of Rs 5,679 crore as dividend including Rs 4,860 crore as share of government, the release added.

(Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/)