India’s Tata Steel Q4 profit falls on lower prices, restructuring expenses

INDIA’S Tata Steel reported a fall in fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday (May 29), pressured by lower steel prices and restructuring expenses on some of its loss-making operations.

The country’s second-biggest steelmaker by market cap said its consolidated net profit fell 64 per cent to 6.11 billion rupees (S$98.9 million) in the three months ended Mar 31.

Domestic steel prices remained under pressure during the quarter as India imported higher volumes of finished steel from top producer China.

Total revenue from operations fell to 586.87 billion rupees from 629.62 billion rupees in the quarter, owing to a nearly 4 per cent drop in its mainstay India business, which contributed at least 62 per cent of the overall revenue.

The company also incurred exceptional charges of 6.49 billion rupees due to the closing of its Sukinda Chromite Block in Odisha and other expenses around its European operations.

Separately, the Tata Group-operated firm will be raising 30 billion rupees through issue of debt securities, it said on Wednesday. REUTERS