MUMBAI (Reuters) - DLF Ltd, India's biggest listed property developer, reported on Thursday a 5 percent fall in quarterly profit amid a market slump due to weak economic growth.
Developers in India have been left with thousands of unsold flats and stalled projects as the absence of a sustained economic recovery, expected after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government was elected last year, has kept home buyers away.
Years of high interest rates have also deterred home buyers and elevated borrowing costs for companies.
New Delhi-based DLF said net profit for the April to June quarter was 1.22 billion rupees, compared with 1.28 billion rupees a year ago.
Income from operations rose nearly 30 percent from a year earlier to 22.31 billion rupees. But the cost of land, plots, development rights and constructed properties also jumped an annual 30 percent in the quarter, weighing on profit.
Home sales in India's eight major cities, including Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore, fell 4 percent to 72.3 million square feet in the quarter ended June 30 from with a year earlier, according to real estate research firm Liases Foras.
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Sales in New Delhi and the surrounding region, DLF's home market, fell 14 percent from a year earlier to 15.4 million square feet -- the steepest fall among the major cities.
(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in Mumbai and Aditi Shah in New Delhi; Editing by David Goodman and Mark Potter)