Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar, India's largest sugar manufacturer, on Friday said its consolidated net loss narrowed down to Rs 49.72 crore in the first quarter of 2021-22 financial year.
The company had posted a net loss of Rs 52.88 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal, according to a BSE filing.
Net income rose to Rs 1,357.54 crore in the first quarter of 2021-22 fiscal from Rs 1,337.40 crore in the same quarter the previous year.
Expenses remained higher at Rs 1,407.26 crore as against Rs 1,390.28 crore in the said period.
For the quarter ended June 30, 2021, and in earlier years, Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar said it had incurred losses resulting in the reduction of net worth to that extent.
The losses were mainly attributable to high raw material i.e. sugarcane prices and other inputs cost and relatively lower realisation of sugar due to higher production, it said.
"The group has outstanding cane dues payable to cane farmers," the company said adding that it is continuously striving for improvement in the operational efficiency in other parameters.
The debt restructuring as per RBI's S4A Scheme has resulted in improved liquidity, it added.
The company further said that the government has taken various measures to improve the financial health of the sugar industry in the recent past and all these measures are expected to turn around the operations of the sugar industry on a sustainable basis.
Bajaj Hindusthan has 14 sugar mills with a cane crushing capacity of 1.36 lakh tonnes per day and an alcohol distillation capacity of 800 kilolitres per day.
