GAIL profit declines 7% to Rs 1,897 crore

State-run gas transporter GAIL’s net profit fell 6.5% year-on-year (y-o-y) to Rs 1,897 crore on a consolidated basis in the quarter ended December, as the natural gas marketing business — GAIL’s largest revenue earner — reported a loss of Rs 157.9 crore against a profit of Rs 452.6 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. GAIL revenue fell 12% y-o-y to Rs 15,899.9 crore in Q3, while expenses dropped 14% to Rs 14,034.4 crore.

Losses would have been higher if the company’s tax expenses had not dropped 43% y-o-y to Rs 448.8 crore in the quarter. Profit before tax for the gas transmission segment remained flat at Rs 990.7 crore. The petrochemical segment, owing to higher margins and volumes, swung to a Rs 434 crore profit in the quarter from a Rs 8.5 crore loss a year ago.

GAIL operates 11,774 km of natural gas pipelines, and another 6,352 km are currently under construction. The oil and gas pipelines of GAIL will be part of the core infrastructure assets that will be rolled out under the asset monetisation programme announced recently in the Union budget. Remarking that the announcement was very recent, AK Tiwari, GAIL’s director finance told analysts that “from a commercial point of view, we are evaluating what could be the best way of doing the InvIT transaction”.