Coal India Q4 results: Net profit drops 18% to Rs 5,528 cr; Rs 4 dividend announced

Coal India's net profit declined 18 per cent to Rs 5,528 crore in Q4 of FY 2023 due to increased provisions towards wages, the stat-run company reported on Sunday. However, its year-on-year growth jumped 62 per cent to Rs 28,125 crore in FY23 compared to Rs 17,378 crore in FY 2022. This was despite provisioning Rs 8,153 crore in the accounts in FY23 towards wage revision of the coal giant's non-executive manpower, the coal giant said in an exchange filing.

Climbing to an all-time high, the annual profit after tax (PAT) bested the previous high of Rs 17,464 crore recorded in 2018-19 by 61 per cent. Higher volume sales and increased premiums in e-auction bolstered the company's profitability, the CIL said.

Also read: India amends power policy draft to halt new coal-fired capacity

The state-run firm said its profit in Q4 shrunk 18 per cent compared to the same quarter of FY'22 primarily due to increased provisions towards the wages in National Coal Wage Agreement –XI. It said PAT would have been the highest ever in any quarter had the provision not been made.

"CIL lifted its profit into higher orbit despite the company capping its coal prices for over past five years amidst rising input costs, especially diesel and explosives, and increased wage cost due to provisioning in the accounts," it said.

Also read: Coal India shares trading in oversold zone; can they make a comeback?

The company's board that met on Sunday recommended the payment of a final dividend of Rs 4 per share. Earlier, in two tranches, a total dividend of Rs 20.25 per share was already paid out. 

Though e-auction sales at 16.40 MTs were lower by 41 per cent in volume terms in Q4 compared to 27.65 MTs of a similar quarter FY’22, higher premiums under the e-window helped CIL in cranking up e-auction sales by Rs 690 crore.

The company's net sales were the highest ever for Q4 as well as for the entire FY'23. Net sales at Rs 35,161 crore in Q4 of FY’23 were up by 17 per cent compared to Rs 29,985 crore in the fourth quarter of FY'22. For the full year of 2022-23, Coal India's net sales were Rs 1,27,627 crore. This is a jump of 27 per cent compared to Rs 1,00,563 crore in the preceding fiscal.

Shares of Coal India traded flat and ended at Rs 237.35 on Friday.