By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : State-owned National Aluminium Co (NALCO) Wednesday said its third quarter net profit was down 33.38 percent to Rs.2.19 billion (Rs.219 crore), and attributed it to the falling prices of its products in the international market.
In the same period last fiscal, NALCO had posted profits of Rs.3.29 billion (Rs.329 crore).
“The fall in the product price in the international market has eroded our profit,” NALCO chairman C.R. Pradhan told IANS.
“We do not fix our own rates. It is governed by international prices. Since the international prices are low, our profits are lower,” Pradhan, who is currently in the national capital, said over phone.
NALCO’s product range includes aluminium ingots, billets and wire rods apart from alumina.
Pradhan said NALCO had taken “many initiatives” to improve profit margins, which include cost-cutting measures. “We are trying to cut administrative cost, raw material cost etc. Let us see if the profit goes up,” he said.
In a regulatory statement Wednesday, the company also said its total income had decreased from Rs.12.47 billion (Rs.1,247 crore) in the corresponding quarter the previous year to Rs.11.49 billion (Rs.1,149 crore) in the period under review.
Consolidated net profit for the nine months ended Dec 31 stood at Rs.12.15 billion (Rs.1,215 crore), down from Rs.16.32 billion (Rs.1,632 crore) in the year-ago period.
Pradhan said he did not expect the market to improve before March.