NEW DELHI: Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) suffered a steep fall in net profits to Rs 7.91 crore for the year 1996-97 from Rs 46.65 crore during the previous financial year.

Despite fall in profits, bank chairman R S Rathore said that the board, which met in the capital on Friday, decided on 10 per cent dividend for the year. Although this would be much lower than 30 per cent last year.

Rathore said that the board was of the view that the bank should maintain track record of dividend despite witnessing fall in profits. The fall in profits was on account of various reasons. Mainly, he said, it was because of the conscious decision of the board to cleanse the balance sheet fully during the year, though it might mean lesser profits. The bank, he added, made a provision of Rs 44.66 crore during the year as compared to Rs 10.96 crore in the last year.

16% from IVP

MUMBAI: IVP Ltd has recommended a dividend of 16 per cent for the year ended March 1997. Sales during the year amounted to Rs 287 crore (Rs 255) crore and it earned a gross profit of Rs 13.08 crore (Rs 9.25 crore). The net profit amounted to Rs 6.72 crore against Rs 4.67 crore last year. The gross profit and net profit have shown an increase of 41 and 44 per cent respectively, whereas the sales have shown a significant improvement during the year.

MasterCard

MUMBAI: M G Bhide, Chairman and Managing Director of Bank of India, has been elected to the Asia/Pacific Board of Director of MasterCard International. Bhide joined this group of payment industry leaders at the MasterCard meet in Shanghai, China. Bhide takes over from G Kathuria, former CMD of Bank of India.

Bay Networks

MUMBAI: Bay Networks has stengthened its leadership position in the networking industry with the introduction of its enterprise intranet switching strategy at a seminar on Friday. The company announced the launch of Ethernet/ATM workgroup switch targeted at enterprise customers. The new switch, combined with the company's existing Centrillion 100 and System 5000 Multi-LAN/ATM platforms enables Bay to provide the most comprehensive Ethernet-to ATM enterprise switching solution.

Sunshield Chem

MUMBAI: Sunshield Chemicals Ltd (SCL) and Schenectady International, Inc (SII) have announced the formation of a joint venture to manufacture alkylphenols in Maharashtra. SII and SCL intend to call the new venture `Schenectady South Asia Private Ltd (SSAL). The new company hopes to carry on using SII's world class technological innovations and enhanced capacities to serve the industrial consumers in and around India, according to Kenneth C Petersen, President of SII.

Pepsi Cola

MUMBAI: Pepsi has further consolidated its position in Mumbai with its Pepsi Cola brand gaining further share. ``IMRB conducted a retail audit in May which reports Pepsi Cola at 26.3 per cent, Thums Up 15.6 per cent and Coca Cola 10 per cent. This reflects an increase over March of 1.3 per cent for Pepsi Cola,'' said a Pepsi press release.

Aarti Industries

MUMBAI: Aarti Industries Ltd (AIL) has achieved a turnover of Rs 171.98 crore with export of Rs 72.35 crore during the year ended March 1997 thereby recording increase of 32.76 per cent in turnover and 38.68 per cent in export.It has earned a gross profit of Rs 19.71 crore and net profit of Rs 13.99 crore. The company to pay 22%.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.