State-owned SAIL on Friday said its consolidated net profit jumped multi-fold to Rs 2,647.52 crore during the quarter ended March 31, helped by reduced expenses.

The firm had posted a net profit of Rs 548.20 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year, the company said in a BSE filing. Its total income during the March 2020 quarter stood at Rs 16,574.71 crore, against Rs 18,719.29 crore in the year-ago period.

Total expenses during the quarter fell to Rs 11,682.12 crore as compared with Rs 17,964.25 crore a year ago.

In a statement, its Chairman Anil Kumar Chaudhary said, "SAIL has continued to earn profit consecutively for two years despite the challenging times. The government's supportive policies have played a pivotal role in maintaining the profitability of the company." He further said the company is continuously striving to improve its performance by increasing sales, share of value-added and special steels and new products.

The firm said it also achieved its best-ever annual sales of 14.23 million tonne (MT) during the financial year 2019-20.

The firm produced 16.15 MT of crude steel in 2019-20, it said.