Coal India posts Rs 369 cr net profit in Q2

Average price realisation from e-auction and long-term fuel supply agreements also remained firm

At a time when demand for coal has started picking up and thermal power plants in the country face a severe shortage in their inventory, Coal India, the world’s largest coal mining company, posted a profit of Rs 368.88 crore with net sales recorded at Rs 17,478.52 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2017.

The net profit and net income in the similar quarter of the last financial year stood at Rs 612.44 crore and Rs 16,788.36 crore, respectively. However, in a filing with the BSE, Coal India said the results are not comparable post the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), reasoning that the revenue from operations is disclosed net of GST for the third quarter of the current financial year.

In the period under review, in the face of the revival of thermal coal demand, the company’s production increased by 8.3 per cent at 113.04 million tonnes (MT) as against the production of 104.37 MT in the corresponding quarter of the last financial year. Sales volumes also increased considerably, going up by 13.56 per cent at 131.58 MT on a year-on-year basis.

Average price realisation, both from e-auction and long-term fuel supply agreements, also remained firm. Owing to tighter control on grade slippages, the company’s average selling price of coal to the thermal power plants increased by Rs 23 at Rs 1,224 a tonne while e-auction prices, on account of higher demand, stood at Rs 1,614 a tonne. 

Following the revision of wages for its executive and non-executive employees, Coal India has provisioned a total of Rs 2,396 crore in the July-September period of 2017-18 to meet higher expenses in the near-term.