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Bloomberg
JSW Steel Ltd’s quarterly profit rose 20% from a year earlier as India’s most valuable steelmaker benefited from a one-off tax gain and boosted exports to offset a slowdown in domestic demand.
Group net income at the Sajjan Jindal owned mill climbed to 25.6 billion rupees ($361 million) in the July to September quarter, it said on Wednesday in an exchange filing.
That beat the 5.2 billion rupee average estimate of 13 analysts polled by Bloomberg. Sales fell 18% from a year earlier to 175.7 billion rupees.
Consumption of steel has slowed in India as the economy grew at the slowest pace in six years amid a lending crisis. Consumption rose 5% from a year earlier in the first half of the year started April, data from the steel ministry shows.
That compares with an expansion of 7.5% in the last fiscal year.
Weak demand from the auto sector and a prolonged severe monsoon resulted in an 8% decline in JSW’s crude steel output during the quarter to 3.84 million tons.
Production in the first half fell 3% to 8.08 million tons, achieving about 48% of the targeted 16.95 million tons for this fiscal.
The mill is planning to sell more overseas as domestic consumption remains weak. JSW expects to exceed its export target of 2.2 million to 2.4 million tons for the fiscal year.