JSW Steel on Friday reported a manifold jump in its consolidated net profit to Rs 2,669 crore for the December 2020 quarter.
The private sector steel maker had clocked a net profit of Rs 187 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year, JSW Steel said in a BSE filing.
Its total consolidated income during October-December 2020 rose to Rs 22,006 crore, compared with Rs 18,182 crore in the year-ago period.
The company's total consolidated expenses stood at Rs 18,120 crore, higher as against Rs 17,719 crore a year ago.
On a standalone basis, the company registered a net profit of Rs 2,829 crore, against Rs 691 crore in the year-ago quarter.
Its standalone income during October-December 2020 was at Rs 19,408 crore, compared with Rs 15,902 crore a year ago.
The expenses were at Rs 15,464 crore, compared with Rs 14,981 crore a year ago.
In a separate statement, the company said there is a swift recovery in economic activity in India following the easing of lockdown restrictions and opening up of the economy.
The domestic steel industry also witnessed sharp demand recovery, driven by re-stocking, and higher demand from automotive, machinery, construction and infrastructure sectors aided by increased government spending.
Specific policy initiatives such as the production-linked incentive scheme to encourage manufacturing in India and targeted stimulus packages to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, it said.
JSW Steel said it improved its average capacity utilisation level to 91 per cent for the quarter on the back of the strong demand environment, from 86 per cent in the preceding quarter.
During the quarter, the company's domestic steel production stood at 4.08 million tonnes (MT) as against 4.02 MT a year ago.
JSW Steel sold 3.90 MT steel in October-December 2020, compared with 4.03 MT in the corresponding quarter of 2019-20.
The company further said that during the quarter, its subsidiary JSW Steel Coated Products registered a production volume of 0.47 MT and a total sales volume of 0.61 MT. It reported a net profit after tax of Rs 269 crore for the quarter.
In the US, JSW Steel said its plate and pipe mill in Texas, US, is under planned shutdown. The sales volumes for the quarter stood at 18,183 net tonnes of plates and 150 net tonnes of pipes. It reported an Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) loss of USD 8.45 million for the quarter.
JSW Steel USA Ohio Inc, the US-based hot-rolled coil manufacturing facility, has idled the operations to undertake a furnace upgradation project during the quarter. Sales volumes for the quarter stood at 10,892 net tonnes. Its Ebitda loss for the quarter was USD 21.26 million, it said.
JSW Steel Italy's rolled-long products manufacturing facility produced 84,063 tonnes and sold 83,994 tonnes of various steel products during the quarter and reported an Ebitda loss of euro 0.52 million for the quarter.
JSW Steel said, "The company has commenced production from the three recently acquired mines in Karnataka on December 10, 2020. With this, all nine mines of Karnataka are operational." It added that mining operations at the four mining blocks in Odisha ramped up production and dispatched. "Overall volume from captive mines in the third quarter constituted 49 per cent of iron ore receipts of the company." Part of O P Jindal Group, JSW Steel has presence in sectors such as steel, energy, infrastructure, cement and sports.
