Coal India Q4 net falls 38% to Rs 2,716 crore

Coal production rose to 176.37 mt in fourth quarter from 165.24 mt a year earlier

State-run Coal India Ltd reported a lower-than-expected fourth-quarter consolidated profit, hurt by higher costs.

Consolidated profit fell 38 per cent to Rs 2,716 crore ($421.18 million) in the quarter ended March 31, from Rs 4,398 crore a year earlier, the company said on Monday.

Analysts on average had estimated a consolidated profit of Rs 3,820 crore, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Coal production of the Kolkata-based company, which accounts for more than 80 per cent of the country's output, rose to 176.37 million tonnes in the fourth quarter from 165.24 million tonnes a year earlier.

Consolidated total income climbed 8.3 per cent to Rs 26, 636 Crore.

The world's largest coal miner recently cut its production target by about a 10th to 600 million tonnes for the 2017-18 financial year.