Calcutta | Feb. 12, 2017:

Coal India has reported a 20.25 per cent dip in net profit for the third quarter ended December on account of a marginal growth in production and offtake, subdued realisation and rising employee costs.

The PSU miner earned a net profit of Rs 2,884.46 crore during the quarter under review against Rs 3,617.17 crore in the year-ago period.

Gross sales during the quarter grew 18.3 per cent to Rs 32,578.32 crore over the previous year.

The average sales realisation for coal supplied under fuel supply agreements was almost flat at Rs 1,289 per tonne. Sales through e-auction fetched Rs 1,564 per tonne, marginally better than the first six months of the fiscal. The company sold 25.19 million tonnes through e-auctions during the quarter.

Total expenses during the quarter stood at Rs 17,260.78 crore compared with Rs 15,426 crore in the year-ago period.

Employee benefit expenses in the first nine months of the fiscal include a provision of Rs 1,400.77 crore for a pending revision in salary and wages. Coal India has over 3 lakh employees and negotiations are on for a revision of salary and wages.

Higher provisions, however, have offset the gains accrued on account of a hike in the price of coal announced earlier this fiscal.

Production in the April-December period was 147.73 million tonnes (mt) against 143.96mt in the year-ago period. Offtake stood at 142.67mt corresponding to 137.89mt in the year-ago period.

Last month, the Centre divested 0.668 per cent of its equity stake in the PSU miner by the placement of shares to central public sector enterprises-exchange traded fund. After this divestment, the shareholding of the government has come down to 79.11 per cent.

Aluminium cover

The commerce ministry has sought certain clarifications from its mines counterpart with regard to the imposition of a minimum import price on aluminium and a decision on such a protectionist measure will be taken in a fortnight, a top official said, according to PTI.

The domestic manufacturers had earlier called for restrictions such as MIP on aluminium imports, similar to the one on steel. China, the biggest producer and consumer of metals, is exporting surplus aluminium amid weak domestic demand.

In August last year, the aluminium association met finance minister Arun Jaitley and pitched for protective steps against cheap imports.

(Source: https://www.telegraphindia.com/)