Nagpur: Lloyds Metals and Energy Limited (LMEL), the only company that operates iron ore mines and will construct steel facilities in the Maoist-affected Gadshiroli district of Maharashtra, has announced that as a New Year gift, the company shares, and the closing price exceeded 1,200 yen. 1,260 rupees in the stock market and Wednesday’s employees will be paid a nominal value of 4 rupees each.
This unit also employs a large number of surrendered Maoists.
The shares will be donated to a workforce of over 6,000 people, with 80% of the beneficiaries being mine and factory workers. This makes it the only company, at least in recent years, where the beneficiaries of the stock allocation plan are primarily employees, management said.
The move also makes workers in the area’s only major industrial sector stakeholders in the project. The total allocation will be a market capitalization of Rs 1 billion. The workers come from remote areas of Gadchiroli and other tribal areas.
The share certificates were handed over by CM Devendra Fadnavis to Tulsi Munda, a Padma Shri tribal social worker working in the company’s Odisha unit, and two Maoists who surrendered. Munda, 70, acquired 10,000 shares worth Rs 1.25 billion.
Mr. Fadnavis praised the company’s managing director, B. Prabhakaran, for “showing courage to start mining where no one would venture.”
The CM told the employees that if they acquired the shares, they would become owners of the company. “If you wait for another five years, you will get a five-fold return…If Mr. B. Prabhakaran is the managing director, you are the owners,” he said. All employees who completed two years were given stock based on their tenure.
The minimum number of shares a worker would receive was 100 shares. The amount increases depending on the number of years of service.
The CM said there is no detention period for the workers and there are plans to increase their quota depending on their performance in the coming days.
