RailTel bags ICAI Award for excellence in financial reporting for 2020-21 in Public Sector Entities category

New Delhi [India], February 10 : RailTel, a Miniratna Central Government PSU under the Ministry of Railways has been awarded the ICAI Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the year 2020-21 in the Public Sector Entities Category.
The company has been adjudged as the winner in the category "plaque". Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), a premier accounting body has been holding the annual competition for these awards since 1958.
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Jitendra Singh presented the awards to the winner awardees at the ICAI award ceremony held in New Delhi.
Speaking about the award, CMD, RailTel Puneet Chawla said that after RailTel became a listed company, the responsibility of reporting the financial performance of the company in a fair and transparent manner has assumed greater significance. This award has confirmed that the company is on the right track in this regard.
He further said that we will continue to keep ourselves apprised of the prevailing best standards and accounting practices and implement the same. I assure all the shareholders and stakeholders that financial reporting will always continue to be of high quality in times to come. The Company has been receiving several awards for the last many years in different categories and fields which is the recognition of RailTel's efficiency, potential, capabilities and achievements.
It is notable that Financial Reporting includes the preparation and presentation of financial information. Effective Financial Reporting plays a significant role in accelerating the economic growth of a country as the information provided through annual reports enables the management and other relevant stakeholders in taking various effective business, investment, regulatory decisions.
This award has been instituted with a view to promoting better standards in the preparation and presentation of information in the financial statements.
It is also worth mentioning that the RailTel continues to be a profitable company since Financial Year 2006-07. Despite the COVID pandemic, RailTel managed to make rapid growth and recorded its highest ever consolidated income in the Financial Year 2020-21 of Rs 1,411 Crore, a growth of 21 per cent and achieving a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 16.6 per cent over the past three years. The company declared an Interim Dividend at the rate of 17.5 per cent of paid-up share capital (Rs 1.75 per share) for the Financial Year 2021-22.
Not only has the revenue increased, but the order book of RailTel has also seen a quantum jump despite weak market conditions. RailTel currently has a healthy order book of around Rs 5,300 crore.
AK Singh, Director, Finance, RailTel observed that the award is an attestation of the hard work put in by RailTel's finance team and is an encouragement to excel further.
Earlier, RailTel continuing the tempo of good performance bagged seven awards in the Calendar Year 2021. The areas of awards included Telecommunication & Information Technology, Digital Technology, Data Centre, Digital PSU, and Digital Security & Document Management. The current ICAI award on Financial Reporting is the first award in the Calendar Year 2022.