Hit by subdued average prices of iron ore, state-owned miner NMDC today reported 10.79 percent dip in net profit at Rs 1,464.95 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, although production and sales improved significantly.
"This was the best quarter ever for the company in terms of production and sales. But, the average prices were down by 8 percent. The bottom-line also squeezed by Rs 337 crore due a mandatory provisioning," NMDC Chairman C S Verma told reporters here.
The company, which sold 8.24 million tonne iron ore in the January-March quarter, had clocked Rs 1,642.28 crore net profit during Q4 of 2011-12 fiscal.
Verma said the average price of NMDC's iron ore was Rs 3,660 per tonne during Q4, 2012-13, compared to Rs 3,966 crore a year ago - down 8 percent. He attributed the decline to volatile international prices of the key steel making raw material.
For the entire 2012-13 fiscal, the average was also down by 2 percent to Rs 4,019 per tonne compared to Rs 4,090 per tonne a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the NMDC Board, which met here today, said it will not make any change to the iron ore prices for the month of June. Currently the price of fines stands at Rs 2,610 a tonne and the price of lumps at Rs 4,600 a tonne.
The company, Verma said, had also made a provision of Rs 337 crore for development of infrastructure in the areas where its mines operate, as per the directive of the apex court.
The company's total income from operations during the quarter under review rose by 23.46 percent to Rs 3,204.25 crore, from Rs 2,594.58 crore in the corresponding quarter of the fiscal 2011-12.
Total expenses of the company more than doubled to Rs 1,493.13 crore in Q4, from Rs 652.85 crore in the year-ago period.
The company achieved a record production and sales of iron ore for the 4th quarter (2012-13) at 9.57 MT and 8.24 MT respectively representing an increase of 37.5 percent and 28 percent respectively in comparison to fourth quarter of 2011-12, it said in a statement.
"This was accomplished in spite of the slurry pipeline not being available at all for evacuation," it added. "With the increase of demand of iron ore from the domestic steel industry, NMDC collective would be committed to produce 48 MT iron ore production by 2014-15," Verma said, adding that the company targets to produce 27.4 million tonnes of iron ore during the current fiscal.
