Coal India Ltd mines robust `4,238-crore quarterly profit

State-run Coal India on Thursday reported 4.4 per cent dip in consolidated net profit at Rs 4,238.55 crore for the quarter ended March 31 due to higher expenses and coal being diverted to the regulated power sector.

The company’s consolidated net profit in the corresponding quarter of <g data-gr-id="26">financial year</g> 2013-14 (FY14) stood at Rs 4,434.18 crore, Coal India Ltd (CIL) said in a regulatory filing. CIL officials attributed the lower fourth quarter and full-year profit to higher expenses, lower e-auction sales and more supply of the incremental production the <g data-gr-id="27">miner</g> achieved during the year, to the power sector.

Its consolidated total expenses increased to Rs 16,072.72 crore over Rs 14,850.11 crore in the corresponding quarter of FY14. The consolidated total income from operations, however, increased to Rs 21,339.55 crore, over Rs 20,563.88 crore in the year-ago period, it added. The depreciation/amortisation/impairment expenses during the quarter increased to Rs 697.96 crore, over Rs 584.09 crore in the year-ago period. 

The power and fuel cost during the January-March period also went up to Rs 609.50 crore, over Rs 572.90 crore in the corresponding quarter of FY14. “The lower quantity e-auction sales impact was to the tune of Rs 300 crore in the quarter and for the full year the impact was Rs 1,164 crore. 

“The total e-auction was 46.91 million tonnes during the year against 58 million tonnes in the previous year,” CIL sources said. Additional employees cost on account of <g data-gr-id="28">ex-gratia</g> and <g data-gr-id="29">acturial</g> valuation was Rs 1,255 during 2014-15. For the year ended March 2015, Coal India’s consolidated net profit stood at Rs 13,726.70 crore, a drop of 9.1 per cent.

The company’s consolidated net profit for the year ended March 31, 2014 was Rs 15,111.67 crore. On a standalone basis, the company’s net profit during January-March quarter increased almost 15 times to Rs 9,629 crore, over Rs 646 crore in the year-ago period on the back of other income. “The major income... of Coal India (standalone) is dividend received from subsidiaries. Dividend from subsidiaries during the quarter ended March 31, 2015 was Rs 9,480.88 crore and year-ended March 31, 2015 as Rs 1,3011.72 crore,” it said. The other income during the quarter stood at Rs 9,872 <g data-gr-id="32">crore,</g> <g data-gr-id="33">while</g> for the January-March quarter of FY14, it was Rs 852 crore. Coal India shares closed 0.07 per cent up at Rs 383.10 apiece on the BSE on Thursday.