Addressing the 40th annual general meeting on Monday, chairman IK Jadeja said that Rs 364.83 crore loans sanctioned during the year was about 2 per cent higher than Rs 358.08 crore in the previous year. However, the net profit dipped by 6.6 per cent to Rs 12.00 crore from Rs 12.85 crore over the same period. Later talking to newspersons, he attributed the marginal fall in profit to servicing debts borrowed from banks and other financial institutions (FIs) at very high interest rates just after the post-liberalisation days 1992-93.

He announced a dividend of Rs 7.5 per cent for the year 1999-2000. It was also a matter of pride that GSFC was classified `A' category corporation by Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) for 2000-01 based on the past performance. Referring to the new Bond Issue, he said, it is planned to carry an interest between 11.50 and 12.75 per cent for a period of seven years, with a lock-in period of three years.

Jadeja said that GSFC could improve its loans recovery by extending loans to successful industrialists to acquire assets, expediting the sale of units through tenders and gearing up the OTS system. GSFC has since its inception in 1960 after the bifurcation of Gujarat from the Bombay State advanced Rs 2272.14 crore as loans to 33,751 units for projects totalling investments of Rs 7.958 crore, providing self-employment and jobs for 6.71 lakh people. In 1999-2000 alone, he said, investments totalling Rs 446 crore provided job opportunity to 11,250 people. This included Rs 190 crore to 427 Small Scale Industrial (SSI) units, Rs 136.73 crore assistance sanctioned to 202 units in backward areas and Rs 144.59 crore to 144 units in rural areas.