Rallis India, a Tata Group company, has reported that its net profit was up six per cent in the second quarter at Rs 66 crore (Rs 62 crore). Total income was up seven per cent at Rs 466 crore (Rs 434 crore).

The company’s profitability improved on the back of price hikes implemented in select products. It also registered a forex gain of Rs 2 crore against a loss of Rs 7 crore logged in the same period last year.

EBITDA margin in the quarter under review was lower at 20 per cent against 24 per cent recorded last year. Rallis has declared an interim dividend of Re 1 per share.

V. Shankar, Managing Director, said the company had made additional investments in promotional activities to position its subsidiary Metahelix products in the market.

Rallis had increased its stake in Metahelix, a hybrid seed company, to 76 per cent from 60 per cent.

“Our EBIDTA margin was hit by the 10 per cent rupee depreciation against the dollar and 4-5 per cent increase in production cost. We had to absorb a portion of the cost increase to help farmers who have already seen a sharp jump in farming cost,” he said.

Rallis had added more than 25,000 farmers and 60,000 acres under its grow More Pulses programme in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The company plans to cover 150,000 acres and 100,000 farmers by the end of this fiscal.

Rallis expects the next two quarters of this fiscal to be better than last year, barring select pockets in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka where rainfall was deficient.

The company’s share on the BSE was down one per cent at Rs 142 on Wednesday.

>Suresh.iyengar@thehindu.co.in

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