Coal India Q2 profit falls 16% to Rs 2,948 crore due to higher expenses

Coal India Ltd (CIL) on Wednesday reported 16.3 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,948.12 crore for September quarter on the back of higher expenses.

The company posted a profit of Rs 3,522.70 crore in July-September period of the previous fiscal, CIL said in a filing to BSE.

Income during the quarter marginally increased to Rs 22,237.82 crore from Rs 22,012.94 crore in the year-ago period, the filing said.

Expenses during the quarter increased to Rs 18,177.82 crore, over Rs 17,734.44 crore, it said.

In a separate filing, the company said its board has approved payment of interim dividend of 7.50 per share of the face value of Rs 10 for 2020-21.

The production of the company during for the quarter increased to 114.98 million tonnes (MT) from Rs 103.99 MT during the quarter ended September 30, 2019.

The offtake of raw coal by CIL during the quarter also increased to 133.96 MT, over 122.44 MT in the year-ago period, it said.

In another filing, the company said the joint venture company in the name of Coal Lignite Urja Vikas Pvt Ltd was incorporated on Tuesday.

CIL accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal production.

State-owned CIL will pump over Rs 1.22 lakh crore in projects related to coal evacuation, exploration and clean coal technologies by 2023-24, to achieve 1 billion tonne of fuel output target, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi had earlier said.

Out of the proposed spend of over 1.22 lakh crore, CIL has planned to invest Rs 32,696 crore on coal evacuation, Rs 25,117 crore on mine infrastructure and Rs 29,461 crore on project development by 2023-24, the minister had said.