Cairn India, one of the largest independent oil and gas exploration and production companies in India, said Wednesday the board of directors of the company at its meeting today has declared an interim dividend of Rs 5 a share of Rs 10 each for the financial year 2014-15. This will entail an outflow of Rs 10.97 billion including the dividend distribution tax of Rs 1.59 billion.

Sudhir Mathur, Interim CEO, Cairn India said, 'The objective of our dividend policy is to continuously enhance value to our shareholders. In line with this policy, we are delighted to announce an interim dividend of Rs 5 a share.'

The said dividend will be paid on or before Oct. 13, 2014 to shareholders on record as on Sept. 23, 2014, it said.

Further the company has announced three new oil discoveries in Rajasthan block. 'Three new oil discoveries have been made in Block RJ-ON-90/1, taking the total number of discoveries in the block to date to 36. This further exemplifies the capabilities of Cairn's exploration team operating in this prolific onshore block,' the company said.

Shares of the company gained Rs 7.4, or 2.31%, to trade at Rs 327.65. The total volume of shares traded was 97,832 at the BSE (1.14 p.m., Wednesday).