Tata Steel June qtr profit nearly doubles on lower costs

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Tata Steel Ltd's quarterly profit nearly doubled as costs at India's top steelmaker by market value fell sharply, making up for a dip in sales.

Net income rose to 11.39 billion rupees from 5.98 billion rupees a year earlier.

Net sales fell 3 percent to 328.05 billion rupees due to lower prices in the April-June quarter.

Two-thirds of Tata Steel's 27 million tonne annual capacity is in Europe, and Chairman Cyrus Mistry said in June that volatile raw material prices and weak demand in key markets would be "challenging" for the company over the next two years.

(Reporting by Krishna N Das; Editing by Sunil Nair)