Tata Steel doubles net income on auto and construction sector demand

28 Jan 2010

Tata Steel Ltd beat analysts forecast, reporting its first quarterly profit increase and more than doubling net income at its Indian operations on strong demand from auto and construction sectors.

The company's first increase in its quarterly profit for its India operations this fiscal year comes on the back of a 49-per cent surge in sales volumes, that account for a quarter of its global capacity of about 30 million tonnes.

The consolidated quarterly results including that of its European unit Corus are expected to be declared next month.

According to Tata Steel, standalone net profit grew to Rs1192 crore for the fiscal third-quarter to end-December, from Rs466 crore a year ago.

Net sales were up at Rs6307 crore from Rs4751 crore a year earlier.

Analysts had projected standalone net profit at Rs1,000 crore on net sales of Rs5,830 crore.