India's Jindal Steel posts Q4 profit jump as costs ease
BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's Jindal Steel & Power reported on Monday a fourth-quarter profit that doubled from a year earlier as input costs declined.
Consolidated profit after tax for the steelmaker increased to 9.33 billion rupees (around $112 million) in the three months to March 31, from 4.66 billion rupees a year ago.
Its net revenue fell 1.4% to 135.21 billion rupees on lower steel prices, making this tycoon Naveen Jindal-led steelmaker's smallest revenue fall in five quarters.
The company's input costs eased nearly 15% to 52.65 billion rupees in the period.
Jindal Steel's commissioned coal mines continued to help offset high costs of iron ore and coking coal, key raw materials for steelmakers, analysts said.
Its shares settled 1% higher ahead of results, compared with a 1.3% gain in the Nifty metal index.
JSW Steel, Jindal Steel's bigger rival and a part of the same group, will report quarterly earnings later this week.
($1 = 83.4700 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)