NMDC net up 94%

State-owned miner NMDC Limited reported a net profit of Rs 1,504.04 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2010, up 94.38 per cent from Rs 773.75 crore during the corresponding period last year. Revenues during the quarter too increased 97 per cent to Rs 2,517.99 crore from Rs 1,278.05 crore last year.

Iron ore contributed Rs 2,509.36 crore to the revenues this quarter (Rs 1,275.63 crore last year) and other minerals and services accounted for Rs 8.63 crore, up from Rs 2.42 crore last year.

NMDC Limited director (finance) S Thiagarajan attributed the rise in revenues and net profit to the increase in the prices of iron ore. NMDC had increased the price of iron ore by about 90 per cent since April 1, 2010, he said. Besides, sales increased by 1.66 million tonne to 6.44 million tonne during the quarter from the 5.38 million tonne last year.

However, the employee cost in Q1 was up to Rs 110.08 crore from Rs 92.67 crore. The royalty and cess increased to Rs 139.33 crore from just Rs 10.92 crore during the corresponding period last year.

With effect from July 1, 2010, Sponge Iron India Limited in Hyderabad has been merged with NMDC Limited. Efforts are on to sell the plant and machinery of Silica Sand Project, Lalapur in Allahabad. There has been no significant change in the status of the ultra pure ferric oxide plant at Visakhapatnam, which is under care and maintenance, a company release said.