Odisha Tourism Corp declares first-ever dividend

Bhubaneswar: The State-owned Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) has declared interim dividend for the first time ever since its inception in 1979.

Tourism Minister Ashok Chandra Panda today handed over a cheque of Rs 1 crore to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik towards interim dividend for the year 2017-18 in presence of Mona Sharma, Principal Secretary Tourism Department and Chairperson OTDC; Nitin Bhanudas Jawale, Managing Director OTDC and other officials, said an official release issued by the CMO.

Panda informed that the Odisha government has invested Rs 9.62 crore as equity in OTDC.

“OTDC was making continuous loss since its inception till 2002-03 and only from 2003-04, it has started making profit. During the year 2016-17 the Corporation has made a net profit of Rs 5.89 crore and the accumulated profit as on 31.03.17 stands at Rs 26.20 crore,” Panda further informed.

It’s worth mentioning here that the Corporation is presently operating 20 hotel units and has the largest air conditioned tourist transport fleet in the State.

The release said OTDC is working to improve facilities and services in its hotel units to provide better services to guests.

As a part of such initiative, OTDC has applied for ISO certification, and also computerizing the operation of its hotel units, it added.

The Corporation will be soon adding a few Volvo air conditioned luxury coaches to its existing transport fleet, the release stated.

Notably, from April 1, OTDC has started air conditioned shuttle service from foot hill to hill top of Dhauli to decongest the traffic.

In a bid to promote lesser known tourist destinations OTDC has also started day tour covering destinations around the Panthanivas.

Further, OTDC has set an ambitious target to make a quantum jump in turnover and profitability in the next three years by improving facilities and services in all Panthanivases.