On January 28, India's largest and the world's sixth largest steel producer, Tata Steel, announced a decrease of 56.37 percent in its net profit for the third quarter of the current Indian fiscal year, ended on December 31 compared to the third quarter of the previous fiscal year.
For the period in question, the company recorded a net profit of Rupees 4.66 billion (approx. $95 million) against a net profit of Rupees 10.69 billion ($219 million) posted in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, its total income declined by 4.19 percent to Rupees 48.10 billion (approx. $985 million) in the third quarter, compared with Rupees 50.21 billion ($1.027 billion) for the same quarter last year.
During the nine months ended December 2008, the company reported a net profit of Rupees 37.42 billion ($765 million), as compared to Rupees 34.81 billion ($712 million) for the corresponding period of the last fiscal.
The total income of the nine months ended December 31, 2008 rose to Rupees 180.77 billion ($3.694 billion), from Rupees 141.93 billion (2.9 billion) in the year-ago period.
Also, steel production for third quarter of the current Indian fiscal year fell to 1.234 million mt as compared to 1.246 millon mt in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year, while steel sales dropped to 1.07 million mt from 1.243 million mt in the year-ago period.
The company has stated that it will publish its consolidated financial results for the third quarter of the current Indian financial year by the end of February 2009.