Bajaj Hindusthan's Q2 net down by 61%

Bajaj Hindusthan, the country's largest sugar producer, today reported 61 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 31.79 crore for the second quarter ended March, 2010.

In the same period of the last fiscal, the firm had posted a net profit of Rs 81.39 crore.

The company's total income, however, grew by 22 per cent to Rs 631.95 crore during January-March 2010 compared to Rs 515.93 crore in the corresponding period of previous fiscal, Bajaj Hindusthan said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Bajaj Hindusthan, which has a sugarcane crushing capacity of 1.36 lakh tonnes per day, follows October-September period as financial year in line with country's sugar season.

Sugar prices, which touched nearly Rs 50 a kg in January, have declined by about 30 per cent and is currently ruling at Rs 35 a kg in the national capital.

For the six month period ended March 2010, the company's net profit jumped by more than four times to Rs 116.99 crore from Rs 25.45 crore in the year-ago period.

Total income increased to Rs 1,261.08 crore during October 2009-September 2010 period of the current fiscal from Rs 878.17 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

In a separate filing, Bajaj Hindusthan, which is setting up five power plants of 90 MW each in Uttar Pradesh through a special purpose vehicle, said that the company's board of directors have approved transfer of thermal power projects to its wholly-owned subsidiary Bajaj Energy Pvt Ltd.

In November 2009, Bajaj Hindusthan had announced foray into power business by setting up five coal based power plants of 80 MW each in UP at an investment of around Rs 1,600 crore.

In April this year, the company had informed that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the UP government for the revision in power generation capacity of five new coal-based power plants to 90 MW each aggregating to 450 MW from the earlier 80 MW each totalling 400 MW.

Bajaj Hindusthan through a consortium had also signed another MOU with UP government for setting up a mega power project of (3 X 660 MW) 1,980 MW at Lalitpur.

The cost of projects are estimated to be around Rs 5 crore per MW plus cost of dedicated transmission lines and allied systems and facilities, it had said.