SAIL's net profit falls by 65% to Rs 542 crore in December quarter

State-owned SAIL on Monday posted around 65 per cent fall in its consolidated net profit at Rs 542.18 crore in the December 2022 quarter, on account of higher expenses.

The company had clocked a net profit of Rs 1,528.54 crore in the October-December period of the preceding 2021-22 fiscal, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) said in a regulatory filing.

Its total expenses soared to Rs 24,825.11 crore, compared to Rs 23,209.88 crore a year ago.

However, total income also fell to Rs 25,140.16 crore from Rs 25,398.37 crore in the year-ago quarter.

In a statement, SAIL said its crude steel production was at 4.708 Million Tonne (MT) during October-December compared to 4.531 MT a year ago.

While sales were at 4.151 MT against 3.840 MT in the year ago quarter.

"The challenging global situation and economic scenario all over the world had its impacts on the steel prices affecting the margins of the steelmakers," SAIL said.

However, with the government's focus on enhancing capital expenditure in infrastructure sector, the domestic steel consumption is expected to witness an increase in the short to medium term, it said.

SAIL, under the Ministry of Steel, is country's largest steel manufacturing company with an annual capacity of around 21 MT.