Calcutta, Oct 26: Saraswati Press Ltd, a Bengal public sector unit, has paid a dividend to the Government of West Bengal for the third consecutive year this year. Managing director T Ganguli on Monday handed over a cheque of Rs 33 lakh -- a dividend of eight per cent--- to chief minister Jyoti Basu. Later at a press conference, Mrinal Banerjee, Bengal minister for public undertakings & industrial reconstruction said that Saraswati Press was one of the five dividend paying state government organisations. "Of the 24 state government undertakings, five are performing extremely well and has been paying dividend regularly. They are Eastern Distilleries, Mackintosh Burn, Electro Medical & Allied Chemicals Ltd, Warehousing Corporation and Saraswati Press," he said. Over the last nine years, the turnover of Saraswati Press has been rising continuously. In 1996-97, it registered a turnover of Rs 14.85 crore and in 1997-98 it went up by 30.91 per cent to Rs 19.44 crore.The gross profit before depreciation and taxalso went up by 7.5 per cent from Rs 3.6 crore in 1996-97 to Rs 3.87 crore in 1997-98.
In the previous two fiscals, 1995-96 and 1996-97, Saraswati Press paid five per cent dividends. Moreover, the company has also offered to pay back with interest the loan of Rs 3.5 crore extended by the state government for modernisation of the mill.
Saraswati Press was established in 1923 at Barishal, now in Bangladesh, by four nationalists -- Manoranjan Gupta, Arun Chandra Guha, Sailendranath Guha Roy and Mahendranath Dutta. However, in 1925, it was shifted to Calcutta and later on famous freedom fighters like Chittaranjan Das and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose took over the reins of the company.
From 1970 to 1978, the press went through a bad phase and was also closed for one year. However, in response to the public outcry against the closure of the unit, the state government took over the management in January 1980 and subsequently nationalised it in January 1989.
Banerjee said that recently a credit rating agencyhas awarded high ratings to the Saraswati Press.
"CARE, a leading credit rating agency and a part of the IDBI group, has conducted a credit rating of Saraswati Press and awarded A+ rating. Considering the industrial recession, which has affected the functioning of all business houses, CARE has awarded the press quite a high rating. This has increased the credibility of the company and it will help the company in getting loans from the financial institutions," the minister said.
In March, this year, the state government has converted a loan of Rs 1.6 crore into equity. With this the capital base of Saraswati Press has increased from Rs 3.9 crore to Rs 5.5 crore.
BOX ITEM
Bengal govt plans Rs 26cr modernisation for Durgapur Chemicals
State government has worked out a Rs 26-crore modernisation plan for the ailing Durgapur Chemicals Ltd. Mrinal Banerjee told reporters that the first phase of the project has already started.
"In the first phase of modernisation, we will set up facilities formanufacturing bleaching powder and a hydrogen bottling plant. It will cost a little over Rs 5 crore and it will be funded by the state government from the planned budget support," he said.
"In the second phase, we will buy equipment for manufacturing membrane cells at a cost of Rs 21 crore." The minister said that foreign organisations are willing to sell the instruments to Durgapur Chemicals on a deferred payment basis.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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