Cash-rich Infosys gifts 40% dividend to investors

With a whopping Rs 30,000 crore ($5 billion) in its reserves, cash-rich Infosys has decided to share a part of its wealth with its lucky investors by increasing its dividend to 40 per cent of post-tax profits from 30 per cent it was paying since inception in 1981.

"As our reserves, including cash and cash equivalents crossed Rs 30,000 crore ($5 billion) for the full year (2013-14), the board has decided to increase the dividend payout ratio to 40 per cent to our investors," Infosys chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal told IANS.

The board's decision will be subject to approval of shareholders at its annual general meeting in June.

Having paid an interim dividend of (400 per cent) Rs 20 per share of Rs 5 face value for the first half (April-September) of fiscal 2014, the global software firm has declared a final dividend Rs 43 per share (860 per cent) for second half (October-March) of the just-concluded fiscal.

The total dividend pay-out for the fiscal will be Rs 63 or a whopping 1,260 per cent to the investors, including institutional, retail, promoters and employees through stock options.

"The final dividend outgo for the second half will be 40 per cent (Rs 4,259 crore) of our net profit of Rs 10,648 crore for the fiscal under review," Bansal said.

Of the company's total 57,42,36,166 shares, promoters, including co-founders and their family members own 9,15,08,078 (15.94 percent), foreign institutional investors (FIIs) 22,92,75,165 (40.65 percent), Indian banks, financial institutions and insurance firms 6,24,42,997 (9.86 percent), retail investors 6,03,26,712 (10.29 percent) and the rest by private corporate bodies, NRIs, OCBs and others, including global deposit receipts/American deposit receipts.