GAIL Q2 profit nosedives 66% to Rs 441 cr

State gas utility GAIL India today reported a 66.19 per cent plunge in second quarter net profit on lower LPG and petrochemical prices.
Net profit in July-September at Rs 440.51 crore was lower than Rs 1,302.90 crore in the same period a year ago, the company said in a statement here.
"The decrease in profit was mainly due to lower price realisation of LPG, other liquid hydrocarbons and petrochemicals products, increased interest and depreciation charges after commissioning of petrochemical expansion plant," it said.
Turnover was almost flat at Rs 14,088 crore.
The gross margin stood at Rs 1,146 crore in the second quarter of the current financial year as against Rs 2,311 crore in the corresponding period of previous year.

During July-September, the revenue from natural gas transmission business increased by 38 per cent to Rs 1,060 crore while sales from natural gas increased by 3 per cent to Rs 12,218 crore.

Petrochemical sales fell 37.7 per cent to Rs 798 crore while the revenue from LPG and liquid hydrocarbons business fell 56 per cent to Rs 748 crore.
The revenue from LPG transmission, however, increased by 14 per cent to Rs 112 crore.
GAIL sold 8 per cent more gas at 74.25 million standard cubic meters per day. It transmitted through its pipeline network 90.26 mmscmd of gas as against 91.18 mmscmd in Q2 of last fiscal.

Petrochemical production at 85,000 tonnes was lower than 119,000 tonnes in the corresponding period of previous year.
"The decrease in production was mainly due to stabilisation of petrochemical plant after annual shut down and partly due to low availability of feed gas," the statement said.