National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) on Thursday reported a consolidated net profit fall of over 54 per cent to Rs 531.35 crore in first quarter of FY21 as against Rs 1,178 crore net profit during the same quarter a year ago. The state-owned company said that the fall in profit was mainly on account of lower income due to COVID-19.

NMDC's total income dipped to Rs 2,009 crore in the April-June quarter, from Rs 3,386 crore in the year ago-period, the company said in an exchange filing. Expenses stood at Rs 1,250 crore, as against Rs 1,474 crore in the same period last fiscal.

In a separate statement, the company said its business was impacted by the outbreak of coronavirus and the subsequent lockdowns. "This is a difficult year with the pandemic creating unprecedented situations. I am happy that our performance remains stable despite the challenges we are facing. I am certain, we will see a marked improvement in our performance in the following quarters with the conditions getting normalised," NMDC CMD Sumit Deb said.

Shares of NMDC ended the intraday trade today at 97.25, up 1.05 points or 1.09 per cent as against the previous close on NSE.       

NMDC is 69.65 per cent owned by the government and is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Steel. It is involved in the exploration of iron ore, copper, rock phosphate, limestone, dolomite, gypsum, bentonite, magnesite, diamond, tin, tungsten, graphite, etc. It is India's largest iron ore producer and exporter.