The Odisha State Cashew Development Corporation (OSCDC) paid a dividend of Rs 46,51,200 to the State Government to the extent of 30% of its paid-up capital. Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra received the dividend on behalf of the Chief Minister from OSCDC Chairman Amarendra Das.
Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment Department Secretary Suresh Kumar Vashishth and the OSCDC MD were present. The OSCDC needs to replace 40 years’ old 60% of cashew plants to increase productivity and hence needs a huge amount of fund; so; it decided to pay a dividend of 30% of paid-up capital instead of annual net profit for the year 2018-19, Chairman Das informed. The Government has taken several steps such as right sizing of manpower, introducing Voluntary Retirement Scheme, financial and debt restructuring, pursuing clear policy frameworks to convert loss-making PSUs into profitable ones. The OSCDC is one of them, Das said. The OSCDC was declared as a Nodal Agency in 1993 for the development of cashew in the State. The corporation has been paying an accumulative dividend of Rs 5,34,86,800 to the Government since 1995-96, Das added.