SAIL Q3 net loss narrows to Rs 795 cr

The total expenses of the company increased to Rs 13,332 cr

State-owned Steel Authority of India's net loss for the quarter ended December 31, 2016 narrowed to Rs 795 crore as higher production resulted in greater sales during the period.

The steelmaker posted a net loss of Rs 1,481.06 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last financial year (2015-16). The total expenses of the company increased to Rs 13,332.3 crore from Rs 11,758.8 crore in the same period, last fiscal.

"With improvement in the share of value added products like high tensile plates, long rails, CR coils and structurals in our product basket and intensifying our marketing approach we aim to improve our market share," P K Singh, Chairman, SAIL said.

The company claimed that there was rise in operating profit despite higher global coking coal prices during the quarter impacting the margins sharply.

The growth in production and sales is driven by an all round improvement strategy of the top management by strengthening the entire value chain, Singh said.

The company's year-on-year employee benefit expenses remained nearly flat at Rs 2343.27 crore as compared with Rs 2399.73 crore.

On quarterly basis the company's net loss increased nearly 9% from Rs 731.58 crore in July-September quarter.

Rating agency ICRA in its report said, imposition of anti-dumping duty, along with safeguard duty and minimum import price (MIP) have resulted in a 37% year-on-year de-growth in India's steel imports during April-December (2016-17), after rising steeply by 26% in 2015-16.

The decline in steel imports has coincided with a strong growth in steel exports by domestic mills, supported by an improvement in the pricing scenario in international markets, it has helped bridge the gap between India's steel imports and exports to just 0.52 million tonne during April-December of 2016-17 as against a much wider 7.64 million tonne during 2015-16.