Two months after endorsing 12.6% dividend, why Jyoti Bikas Bank is not distributing it

ShareSansar, September 17:

Six long months after its Board of Directors decided to pledge 12.60 percent dividend, including 7 percent bonus shares, to its shareholders from the net profit it posted in the last fiscal year 2069/70, Jyoti Bikas Bank Limited’s Annual General Meeting on July 16 finally endorsed it.

And it’s been two months since the AGM, and development bank is yet to distribute the bonus share or the cash dividend.

What is going on?

“Our AGM endorsed the dividend after the central bank approved it, but the central bank then told us not to distribute the cash dividend until  Jiri Khola (Sana Hydropower project) starts generating electricity,” a highly placed source at Jyoti told ShareSansar today. “The project has now started generating electricity and we notified the central bank about this more than a week ago.”

The source further said that hopefully the central bank would now let them distribute the dividend before Dashain.

Though the development bank could have distributed the bonus share certificates earlier, the source added that they thought it will be convenient to the shareholders to get both cash and stock dividend together.

The 157th BOD meeting of the development bank had pledged the dividend back in January second week.

According to Jyoti’s company secretary Madan Mahat, the central bank took a long time to approve the final balance sheet of the bank, citing some technical aspects of a project being funded by the bank.

Back in June they had taken some central bank officials to the site of Jiri Khola Sana Hydropower project to show that the problem has been resolved.

The national level development bank, which was established with the aim of financing hydropower and infrastructure, has invested Rs 23 crore in Jiri Khola Sano Hydropower.

Jyoti Bikash Bank had posted a net profit of Rs 7.26 crore in the last fiscal year 2069/70.