Shareholders Of Hinduja TMT Approve 50% Dividend

In the Annual General meeting (AGM) of Hinduja TMT Ltd held on 27th September, 2001 Shareholders of Hinduja TMT approved a dividend of Rs. 5/- per share on a pro-rata basis thereby increasing the total dividend payout amount to Rs. 15.36 Crores for the year ended 31st March 2001 as compared to Rs. 5.17 Crores for the year ended 31st March 2000.

HTMT's chairman, Mr. A. P. Hinduja said "Although the financial year 2000-01 saw an unprecedented growth in earnings and the performance was truly outstanding on all fronts, he believes that the best is yet to come from the company. The company has already surrendered its certificate of NBFC registration to RBI and will focus only on IT activities.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, HTMT is expected to maintain its profitability, thanks to contracts on hand in IT segment and such performance coupled with synergies arising from the convergence of TMT businesses will augment shareholder value. The new three year call center contract, revenue from which could exceed of over Rs. 300 Crores, endorses HTMT's inherent strength in the Information Technology space."

Replying to the questions raised by shareholders on HTMT's media subsidiaries Mr. Hinduja said, "The consolidation process of various media companies under HTMT is over and has started to reflect in their better performance. Looking at the growth potential in the Indian Media sector, HTMT's media subsidiaries, which are leaders in their respective fields, are well equipped to exploit the tremendous opportunity."

He welcomed the introduction of the Convergence bill and said "The passage of this Act will have a far reaching impact on orderly growth of the entertainment industry in India. The bill would facilitate prevailing of free market principles in pricing of services so that costs of more and more value added services could be recovered from customers, while protecting their interests."