Riding on the back of higher realisation, particularly from sale under the e-auction platform, Coal India Ltd registered 69 per cent rise in net profit at ₹7,719 crore during the quarter ended December 31, 2022, as compared with ₹4,557 crore same period last year.

The steep rise in profit came on the back of higher add-on over the notified price in e-auction sale of 14.65 million tonnes (mt) of coal during the quarter under review, the company said in a press statement.

The company’s board has approved the payment of second interim dividend of ₹5.25 per share. Earlier a dividend of ₹15 was announced. 

Net sales grew by 25 per cent at ₹32,429 crore during the quarter under review against ₹25,991 crore same period last year.

The state-owned miner sold 157.83 mt of coal through the FSA route at an average realization of around ₹1,482 per tonne. “Volume sale of 158 mt and better average realisation under FSA resulted in a net impact of around ₹3,580 crore. FSA sale increased by 13.2 mt in Q3 FY23 compared to 144.6 mt of previous fiscal’s Q3. Realisation per tonne of coal under FSA category was ₹1,482 in Q3 FY23, an increase of over 8 per cent compared to ₹1,370 per tonne of Q3 FY22,” it said in the statement.

CIL sold 14.65 mt of coal through the e-auction platform at an average realization of ₹5,046 per tonne.  

Though auction volumes were lower by 44 per cent during the third quarter of current as compared with 26 mt same period last year, higher premiums under the e-window helped CIL in cranking up sales by ₹2,341 crore. The realisation per tonne of coal of was ₹5,046 under auction segment during the quarter under review as compared with ₹1,947 per tonne for comparable quarter in FY22. The jump was ₹3,099 per tonne or 159 per cent.

The company further earned ₹321 crore from sale of 0.24 mt of imported coal at an average realization of ₹13,297 per tonne. “CIL scaled up its profit to higher orbit despite capping coal prices for the past five years amidst rising input costs, especially of diesel and explosives,” it said.

However, realisation from e-auction platform may start coming down moving forward as there has been some softening in international coal prices over the last three-to-four months.

“The government has directed all power generation companies in the country to blend imported coal up to 6 per cent of their requirement till September, so realisation under e-auction platform may not be this high moving forward,” Rupesh Sankhe, analyst at Elara Capital India told businessline.   

The average realisation may be in the range of ₹3,500-4000 a tonne moving forward, however, the profitability will be higher on y-o-y basis due to base effect and higher offtake, he added.

The company’s production during the quarter increased by nearly 10 per cent at 180 mt, as compared with 164 mt same period last year while total offtake increased by around 1 per cent at 176 mt (174 mt) during the quarter.

The company’s scrip closed at ₹224.90, down by 0.44 per cent on the BSE on Tuesday.

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