The board has declared a dividend of 220 per cent at the rate of Rs 22 a share for the financial year ended March 31, 2009.
The consolidated total income declined 8.61 per cent to Rs 1,883.27 crore in the March quarter, from Rs 2,060.61 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.
For the fiscal ended March 31, Bajaj Auto posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 535.79 crore, down 28.52 per cent from Rs 749.58 crore in FY'08.
Total income dipped 2.51 per cent to Rs 8,814.81 crore during FY'09, from Rs 9,041.31 crore in the year-ago period.
On a standalone basis, Bajaj Auto reported a 7.80 per cent growth rate in net profit at Rs 130.21 crore. It had a net profit of Rs 120.79 crore in FY'08.
The FY'09 net profit was significantly impacted owing to the forex cover taken by the company. During the year, two-wheeler exports were up 31 per cent to 6,33,463 units and three-wheeler exports were up two per cent to 1,39,056 units.
Shares of Bajaj Auto were trading at Rs 931.10, up 5.26 per cent in the afternoon trade on the BSE.
Bajaj appears to have started final decline. Lack of leadership, no clear vision, inability to design new products and poor marketing strategies could make this company go down further. This company will not servive the red-hot competition from Hero Honda and Honda itself. The new initiative of entering into car market would be another reason for decline. Auto company can not survive with borrowed design anymore, those days are over. It will not be a major (or even minor) auto company, five years from now.