Riding on the back of higher gas trading and transmission margins, GAIL (India) on Tuesday reported a 12.7 per cent jump in its net profit at Rs.968 crore for the quarter ended December 31 against Rs.859 crore in the year-ago period.
“The increase in net profit during the third quarter of the current financial year is mainly due to increase in the natural gas transmission, LPG transmission and natural gas trading business,'' , GAIL Chairman and Managing Director B. C. Tripathi told a reporters here.
The company achieved a record turnover of Rs. 8,365 crore, an increase of 35 per cent.
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Mr. Tripathi said GAIL had raised Rs.500 crore through a bonds issue and was planning to further raise $150 million through external commercial borrowings next month. Besides, it was planning to take a loan of Rs.300 crore from the Oil Industry Development Board to meet its capital expenditure requirements.
The CMD said GAIL had expanded the capacity of its Dahej-Vijaipur pipeline to 35 million standard cubic metres a day from 24 mscmd. Moreover, the company in 2011 will add 1,500-km of pipeline at an estimated cost of about Rs.10,000 crore to raise its gas transmission capacity to 230 mscmd from the current 180 mscmd, he said.
“GAIL plans to invest Rs.35,000 crore in the next 3-4 years in laying new pipelines,'' he said.
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During the third quarter, revenues from the natural gas transmission business rose by 17 per cent to Rs.1,001 crore while revenues from gas trading jumped by 50 per cent to Rs.6,773 crore. Sales of petrochemicals fell by 30 per cent to Rs.571 crore and the turnover from the LPG and liquid hydrocarbons business was up 2 per cent at Rs.729 crore. Natural gas sales in the said quarter were up 3 per cent at 83.36 mscmd while GAIL's pipeline network transported 10 per cent more gas at 120.19 mscmd. LPG transmission was up 9 per cent at 8.93 lakh tonnes. The company reported 25 per cent rise in its net profit in the April-December period at Rs.2,778 crore, with a rise in turnover at Rs.23,565 crore from Rs.18,474 crore in the first nine months of the previous fiscal.