Riding on the back of higher revenue from transmission and sale of natural gas, GAIL (India) on Wednesday posted an impressive 30 per cent jump in its net profit in the second quarter ended September 30. The company reported a net profit of Rs.924 crore in the July-September quarter as against Rs.713 crore in the corresponding period in the previous year, GAIL Chairman and Managing Director B. C. Tripathi told reporters here.
“The increase in net profit was mainly due to higher realisation on liquid hydrocarbons (LPG), increase in transmission of natural gas, trading and margin earned on gas and slight improvement in petrochemical margins,'' he said. Revenue from the natural gas transmission business increased by 16 per cent to Rs. 979 crore. Petrochemical sales expanded by 13 per cent to Rs. 721 crore, while LPG and liquid hydrocarbons sales jumped by 43 per cent to Rs.737 crore. Sales from natural gas trading increased by 27 per cent to Rs.6,290 crore. The turnover was up 30 per cent at Rs.8,104 crore as against Rs.6,223 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. Mr. Tripathi said GAIL had completed the first phase of expansion of the Dahej-Vijaipur pipeline to increase the company's capacity to move gas from the West Coast to markets in the North to 35 million standard cubic metres a day (mscmd) from the present 24 mscmd with an investment of Rs.980 crore. In the second phase, a 48-inch parallel line is being laid by April 2011 that will raise the capacity to 75 mscmd.
The profits were up because of lower subsidy burden GAIL had to bear in the quarter.
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He said the company's city gas subsidiary, GAIL Gas, had commenced retail operations of CNG and piped natural gas to households in Sonepat in Haryana. This is the third city after Baroda in Gujarat and Dewas in Madhya Pradesh. Meerut in Uttar Pradesh and Kota in Rajasthan would follow later this year and later Agra-Ferozabad would be taken up. GAIL, he said, had awarded contracts for laying Dabhol to Bangalore and Bangalore to Kochi gas pipelines and the first phase was expected to be commissioned by March 2012. The second phase would be commissioned by March 2013.