New Delhi, Feb 27: GAIL (India) Ltd has announced that the company's employees can avail of loan from State Bank of India (SBI) to invest in the company issue. The Offer of Sale of the 8,4565 crore shares, which is 10 per cent of the Government's equity share in GAIL, has opened today and the bidding will close on March 5, 2004. Five per cent of the shares for sale, amounting to 43.20 lakh shares, have been reserved for the employees of the company. Proshanto Banerjee, CMD, GAIL (India) Limited said, "Every employee of GAIL is an asset and deserves to be rewarded for the company's good performance. We want to inculcate in each employee a sense of ownership, involvement and mutuality of interests with the company."

The loan will be available to all regular employees on the rolls of GAIL, including functional directors having joined the company in regular pay scales. Each employee can buy a maximum of 1200 shares at the minimum reserve price. SBI will provide a maximum loan of Rs 2.5 lakhs to an employee, depending on his or her grade. The rate of interest will be 7.25 per cent per annum and the maximum repayment period of 36 months. There will be no pre-payment penalty an no processing fee required, and the EMI has been fixed at Rs 3,099 per lakh. Bureau Report