Gail India net up by 6.11% at Rs 722.38 cr

New Delhi, May 13 (UNI) Country's largest gas transmission and marketing company GAIL (India) Ltd today said its net profits surged 6.11 per cent to Rs 722.38 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 as compared to Rs 680.73 crore for the same period in the corresponding year on account of higher revenue from gas and chemical sales.

The state-run firms's income too hiked 25.9 per cent to Rs 5034.95 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 from Rs 3996.3 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2007.

The Company has registered 8.9 per cent increase in its net profit to Rs 2601.46 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008 as compared to Rs 2386.67 crore for the same period previous year.

''This was due to higher price, higher sales quantity of polymers, LPG and othe Liquid Hydrocarbons, increase in LPG transmission quantity and some decrease in subsidy sharing in domestic LPG and PDS kerosene,'' company Chairman and Managing Director U D Choubey told reporters here.

The city-based firm paid Rs 1314 crore in 2007-08 as subsidy to help state- run refiners cover part of their losses from selling fuels below cost against Rs 1488 crore a year earlier.

Total income has increased 11.8 per cent to Rs 18564.55 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008 from Rs 16592.13 crore for the year ended March 31, 2007.

According to the company's consolidated results, the group has posted 9.3 per cent increase in its profit to Rs 2782.90 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008 as compared to Rs 2545.32 crore in the same period last year.

The total income surged 13.5 per cent to Rs 19411.36 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008 from Rs 17101.41 crore for the year ended March 31, 2007.

The revenue from petrochemical segment increased 17 per cent from Rs 2,204 crore to Rs 2,591 crore due to increase in sales quantity and average sale price, whereas revenue from LPG transmission jumped 13 per cent from Rs 344 crore to Rs 389 crore on account of increase in the quantity transported.

The revenue from Natural Gas trading surged five per cent from Rs 12,021 crore to Rs 12,658 crore due to increase in trading quantity.

During 2007-08, the production of polymers jumped nine per cent to 3.86 lakh MT as against 3.54 lakh MT in the previous year.

UNI MP AK BD2037