GAIL net up 13% at Rs 1,091 cr

GAIL India Ltd on Monday reported a 13 per cent rise in net profit for the third quarter ended December 31, even as it paid a 28 per cent higher subsidy towards fuel loss of oil marketing companies.

The country’s biggest gas marketeer’s net profit in the October-December quarter stood at Rs 1,091 crore, against Rs 968 crore a year ago, chairman and managing director B C Tripathi told reporters here.

“The growth has been due to three reasons. One, gas trading volumes were higher by four-five million standard cubic meters per day at 85 mscmd,” he said. “Second, LPG production was higher by nine per cent and it also realised a better price. Third, there was better price realisation on higher petrochemical production.”

GAIL paid a fuel subsidy at Rs 536 crore in the third quarter, up 28 per cent from last year. The company, along with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Oil India Ltd, meets one-third of the revenues that retailers lose on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene at government regulated prices.

The company’s turnover was up 35 per cent at Rs 11,260 crore in the third quarter, as against Rs 8,365 crore in the same quarter last financial year.

GAIL raised $200 million from Bank of Tokyo in the third quarter, and would raise another $100 million in the current quarter to meet capital expenditure requirement. Its revenues from natural gas transmission business increased 9 per cent to Rs 1,087 crore, while sales from petrochemicals business jumped 54 per cent to Rs 878 crore.