GAIL net dips 42% to Rs 448 cr

Hit by floods at Hazira and a higher LPG subsidy burden, GAIL (India) registered 42 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 448 crore during the July-September quarter, against Rs 774 crore in the comparable quarter last year.

The company's turnover (net of excise duty) during the period though was in positive territory, up 3 per cent to Rs 3,707 crore.

GAIL, however, promised "upsides" in bottomline and topline as it secures oil and gas resources in India and overseas (it has bid for gas from blocks in Myanmar) and undertakes cost cutting and restructures debt.

For the six-month period of April-September, GAIL posted a net profit of Rs 1,041 crore, against 1,258 crore a year ago, while turnover during the period was up 13 per cent to Rs 7,785 crore.

Subsidy burden during the six months more than doubled to Rs 671 crore from Rs 320 crore in the corresponding period last year, a company statement said.

"But for the higher subsidy and lower availability of gas at Hazira, the sales and profit before tax for the half year would have been higher by approximately 23 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, than the corresponding previous period," it said.

Floods in Gujarat affected gas supply at Hazira for about a month (August 8-September 9), and this resulted in loss of production of petrochemical, LPG and liquid hydrocarbon products and loss of transmission charges in the HVJ pipeline system.