Larsen & Toubro (L&T) today reported a 14 per cent drop in profit before tax at Rs 4,249.74 crore for quarter ending March 31, 2020 over the same period in FY19.

For the quarter ended March 31, the overall Profit After Tax (PAT), including the PAT from discontinued operations at Rs 3,197 crore, dipped by six per cent over the figure for the similar period last year. The consolidated PAT from continuing operations for FY20 was Rs 8,894 crore, up seven per cent over the previous year. The overall PAT at Rs 9,549 crore, including the PAT from discontinued operations of electrical and automation segment for the year ended March 31, 2020 also grew by 7 per cent.

Consolidated Gross Revenue of Rs 145,452 crore from continuing operations for the year ended March 31, 2020, achieving YoY growth of eight per cent. For the period January-March 2020, when the impact of Covid-19 on global economy started showing, the consolidated gross revenue at Rs 44,245 crore recorded a marginal YoY increase of two per cent. The company said this was despite challenges faced in a period characterised by economic volatility and a work-from-home/lockdown environment in the last fortnight of the financial year.

The company bagged orders worth Rs 1,86,356 crore at the group level during the year ended March 31, 2020, registering growth of nine per cent compared to the previous year even in the face of subdued business environment and economic challenges. For the quarter ended March 31, 2020, overall PAT including the PAT from discontinued operations at Rs 3,197 crore registered decrease of 6 per cent over the profits for similar period last year.

The company said it had taken various measures to deal with the current economic crisis, including building sufficient liquidity on the balance sheet, adapting business models to incorporate work-at-home practices wherever feasible, optimising digital initiatives to facilitate site execution, engaging with customers to refresh contractual rights and obligations, sharply focusing on all items of costs to maximise economic benefits, taking care of the large sub-contracted labour force at work sites, complying with all Governmental directives while working to remobilise the workforce to commence execution of projects and strengthening practices to ensure that staff are safe and well during this period. "While the initial quarters of 2020-21 are expected to be adversely affected by the current upheaval, we expect growth revival in the later part of the financial year assuming things get better from here."

In its outlook for the Indian economy, the company said even though the government has announced a wide ranging raft of stimulus measures designed "to alleviate stress in various sectors, it is likely that economic growth will still take a few quarters more to revive to healthy levels". The pandemic struck at a time when some green shoots of economic recovery were being forecast after a prolonged bout of growth slowdown, it added. "The lockdown imposed towards the end of 2019-20, in an attempt to prevent community transmission of the virus, has unfortunately led to both demand and supply shocks to the economy."