The Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) has paid a dividend of ₹27.84 crore for 2015-16 to the government.
The demand draft was handed over to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is also the chairman of the company, at the Secretariat on Friday by Minister for Water Resources Mathew T. Thomas, who is also the Director of CIAL.
In 2015-16, CIAL had generated an income of ₹524.5 crore. The company had made a profit of ₹175.22 crore after tax during the period. Compared to the previous financial year, the CIAL net income had registered a growth of 26.71 per cent and 21.19 per cent in net profit.
The company is giving 25 per cent dividend to its investors. With this, the company had been able to give 178 per cent dividend of the total investment to its shareholders. The company has been giving dividend since 2003-04. As many as 18,200 persons from 36 countries have invested in CIAL.
The State has 32.4 per cent equity in the CIAL. As many as 7,500 persons are working in the airport that began commercial flight operations in 1999.
In 2015-16, as many as 77.71 lakh persons travelled to various destinations through and from Nedumbaserry airport. CIAL has fourth place among the airports in the country when international travellers are taken into account and seventh place when total passengers are considered. The ₹1,100 crore new international terminal coming up will soon be commissioned.
CIAL Directors K. Roy Paul, A.K. Ramani, Additional Chief Secretary and CIAL MD V.J. Kurien, M.A. Yusuf Ali, N.V. George, E.M. Babu and Company Secretary Saji K. George were present when the DD was handed over.