India's UltraTech Cement Ltd, part of the Aditya Birla Group, on Thursday posted a 23 per cent drop in third-quarter profit, hurt by rising pet coke and coal prices.
Profit fell to Rs 4.56 billion ($71.4 million) for the quarter ended December 31, from Rs 5.95 billion a year ago, the company said.
The quarterly performance was also hurt by the ban of pet coke usage in some states, the company added.
However, net sales rose to Rs 78.97 billion from Rs 59.27 billion.
Analysts on average had expected a consolidated net profit of 4.49 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.
