 "New acquisition sets the wheel in motion for JK Tyre")
BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's JK Tyre & Industries Ltd on Wednesday reported a nearly three-fold rise in fourth-quarter profit, as raw material costs fell and domestic demand saw a boost.
The tyre-maker's consolidated net profit rose to 1.08 billion rupees ($13.2 million) in the quarter ended March 31, from 402 million rupees a year earlier, it said in an exchange filing.
The company, which supplies to Maruti Suzuki India Ltd and Tata Motors Ltd, posted an almost 10% growth in revenue from operations.
Rubber prices have softened 3% from the December quarter, when the effects of easing prices had already begun reflecting in the company's bottomline.
Its cost of raw materials fell more than 4% to 21.28 billion rupees in fourth quarter, compared with a 21% rise the tyre-maker reported last year.
"We remain optimistic on the tyre industry growth path in the coming year, buoyed by an uptick in economic activities and the big push in infrastructure growth," the company said in a statement.
Indian automakers had recorded higher sales in the March quarter as consumers snapped up passenger and commercial vehicles ahead of price increases on implementation of tighter fuel emission norms.
Rival tyre-makers MRF Ltd, CEAT Ltd, and Apollo Tyres Ltd all reported between a two- and five-time rise in quarterly profit.
Shares of JK Tyre settled 0.4% higher ahead of its results, taking YTD gains to 8.4%.
($1 = 81.7800 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Varun Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shweta Agarwal)
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