Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has posted a record profit for the first quarter (i.e. April-June) of the current Indian fiscal year. The company has registered a first quarter net profit of Rupees 1.525 billion, up 10 percent over the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year, while its turnover also rose to a record figure of Rupees 8.898 billion, marking an increase of 5.8 percent over the same period last year. The company's operating margins were around 34 percent during the quarter in question.
Commenting on the strong results, SAIL chairman SK Roongta said, "Good market and healthy steel prices have helped the company improve its profitability, but other parameters like a better product mix, improvement in techno-economic parameters like lower energy consumption, higher capacity utilization and other cost-cutting measures, also helped the company become more competitive".