The Hindu Business Line : STC plans foray into new areas

FOLLOWING the Department of Disinvestment's decision to call off the proposed disinvestment of State Trading Corporation of India Ltd (STC), the Corporation has resolved to foray into new areas and diversify its trading items.

Sources in the company told Business Line that the new areas include export of iron ore, imports of petrochemicals, fast-moving consumer goods and IT products, and brand marketing, especially in India.

They added that the Corporation obtained a communication recently from the Department of Disinvestment that the latter has decided to call off the proposed disinvestment of STC.

For 2004-05, the Corporation clocked a turnover of Rs 9,700 crore, a growth of 16 per cent over the previous year and 44 per cent more than the MoU target the company had entered into with the Government.

On the profitability front too, the Corporation posted growth of 68 per cent over the MoU target. The profit after tax of Rs 23.5 crore was about 20 per cent higher than the 2003-04 figure.

STC has disbursed 15 per cent interim dividend for 2004-05 to the Government.

Its import turnover touched record levels of Rs 8,400 crore, an increase of 44 per cent over the MoU target.

While bullion imports with sales worth over Rs 5,600 crore were almost at the previous year's level, non-bullion import turnover grew by 91 per cent.

The main growth areas were hydrocarbons and minerals and metals, which contributed a turnover of Rs 1,386 crore.

Other areas of relatively robust growth included fertilisers and edible oils, each contributing Rs 455 crore.

Exports touched Rs 610 crore, including foodgrains export worth Rs 340 crore.

Domestic sales also touched an all-time high of Rs 669 crore, amounting to over 5.5 times of the MoU target.

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