Investors of Mahindra Satyam can hope for a dividend after a gap of four years.

The board of directors of the company will consider a proposal for giving a dividend when they meet here on Thursday to vet the results for the fourth quarter.

The IT services company has stopped giving dividends since the financial year 2008-09, the same year when it landed in the scandal. The founder Chairman B. Ramalinga Raju admitted to committing a massive inflation of numbers to be in the top league of IT firms in the country.

The company had paid a dividend of Rs 3.5 (Face Value Rs 2) in 2008-09.

The company, which used to give bountiful dividends till then, had to stop giving dividends as it grappled with regulatory, legal and business challenges. Excepting the claims made by IL&FS and a few other firms reportedly owned by the kin of Raju, the company had cleared all the class action suits and regulatory issues. It, however, is not clear whether it will recommend dividend.

“They are going to consider the proposal. There is no guarantee that they will okay it,” an analyst cautioned.

The investors, particularly the retail investors, have been asking the new management to consider giving them dividend as the company had begun to make profits and put the bitter past behind.

In the 25th annual general meeting held in September 2012, they raised the issue. They pointed out that their peers at Tech Mahindra, which acquired Satyam Computer Services, had received the dividend.

Responding to the queries, company Chairman Vineet Nayyar said that Tech Mahindra investors got a dividend because that firm had been consistently making profits. “Bear with us. Stay on, you will be rewarded,” he assured the investors at the AGM.

kurmanath.kanchi@thehindu.co.in

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