The Hindu Business Line : Tata Steel declares special centenary dividend

Mumbai, Aug. 29 Mr Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Steel Ltd, said a special 25 per cent dividend had been declared to mark the centenary year of the company. With this shareholders would get 155 per dividend, inclusive of the special dividend.

Mr Tata was addressing the company AGM here on Wednesday.

On the challenges ahead, he said successful integration of Corus and Tata Steel to make it one integrated company was one, besides reducing costs.

The onus was also on transforming the company into a solution provider rather than a mere raw steel provider.

Rising Output

Looking forward, he said steel production in the country was slated to increase from the present 65 million tonnes to 125 mt in 2010. And, globally it was expected to go up another 500 mt.

The forecast for global demand was that it would touch 1.3 billion tonnes in 2010 from 1.1 billion tonnes now.

Referring to the per capita consumption in India, he said it was 38 kg now and with the projected population growth and overall economic growth it would be about 70 kg in 2015. Compared to this, the consumption per head in China was 270 kg and 340 kg in the developed world, he said.

Corus acquisition

Referring to $13-billion Corus acquisition, he said apart from the rights and preferential issues totalling about Rs 10,000 crore, the company would raise $870 million through foreign convertible currency bonds in September and $500 million by way of global depository receipts later on.

On 100 years in Jamshedpur, he said the company was looking to build a multi-purpose city centre, recreation and congregation facilities and assist in tribal education.

A corporate anthem capturing the essence of Tata Steel’s journey through the last 100 years and a centenary Web site was launched to commemorate the occasion. Mr. B Muthuraman, Managing Director, launched the Web site — tatasteel100.com.

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