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Jindal Stainless Limited (JSL) has reported a ₹123.99 crore consolidated net loss for the first quarter of financial year 2020-2021. This is a steep fall from the ₹47.62 crore consolidated profit reported by the company in the comparable quarter of the previous financial year.
Consolidated total income for the period under review stood at ₹1,385.87 crore, down from ₹3,272.84 crore in the same quarter of the fiscal 2019-2020.
A company statement said that sales volume contracted by 60 per cent from 222,119 tonnes in the corresponding period last year to 88,814 tonnes in the first quarter of this fiscal.
“Even though April 2020 was a complete washout for domestic manufacturing, imports of stainless steel in April 2020 were even higher than the pre-Covid levels of January 2020. While the overall imports jumped by 44 per cent during this period, those from Indonesia witnessed an eight-fold leap. The domestic industry awaited relief measures from the government to alleviate these distorted trade practices,” a company statement said.
Lockdown impact
Commenting on the results, Abhyuday Jindal, Managing Director, Jindal Stainless, said: “The domestic stainless steel industry was no exception to the slowdown caused by Covid-19. For Jindal Stainless too, it was an unprecedented quarter, with operations completely suspended in April. Through agile business planning and a global outreach, we were able to revive our exports in the May-June period, which helped offset the adverse impact of a depressed domestic market to some extent.”
“With the gradual easing of the nationwide lockdown in May-June, JSL’s operations have been inching towards normalcy. An uptick in healthcare and two-wheeler segments along with likely improvement in retail segment during festive season is expected to boost the demand for stainless steel in the coming months. This is over and above the conventional applications of stainless steel in construction, transportation, and process industries, which are slowly resuming pace,” he said.
Shares of the company closed 3.88 per cent lower at ₹44.65 a scrip on the BSE on Tuesday.
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