The company has declared a dividend of 70 per cent on the increased share capital of Rs 3.75 crore due to the 1:1 bonus issue in October 1998. Last year, the company had declared 120 per cent on the original capital.

The profit before tax was Rs 22.51 crore, a 11 per cent increase over the previous year.

While the dry cell battery market (1,690 million pieces) had registered a negative growth of 1.5 per cent, according to the Dry Cell Battery Manufacturer's Association, Indo National grew at 5 per cent and sales touched the 500 million mark.

According to a release from the company, the higher profit levels wereachieved due to waste reduction measures, tight control over manufacturing, and judicious management of working capital resources. The company saved to the extent of Rs 1.06 crore on interest and finance charges.

The expansion project which increased production by 120 million pieces was completed in November 1998 and the entire project cost of Rs 9.44 crore came from internal accruals. The installed capacity is now 648 million pieces from its factories in Tada and Nellore in Andhra Pradesh. Currently, the company's market share in the dry cell industry is 29.3 per cent.