Coal India falls to record low; earnings lag expectations

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Shares in Coal India fell more than 2 percent to a record low on Monday after posting its first quarterly profit decline in five quarters, saying lower sales realisations and higher wage and diesel costs were to blame.

The state-owned miner said on Saturday net profit for its fiscal first quarter fell to 37.31 billion rupees. Analysts, on average, had forecast net profit of 42.40 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters Starmine data.

Coal India shares were down 2.4 percent at 9:17 a.m., after earlier hitting a record low at 248.25 rupees. (Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi; Editing by Rafael Nam)