The largest coal miner in the world, Coal India posted a good set of numbers. The company during the quarter showed a production of 117.37 million tonnes, up 2.4% and offatke at 120.45 million tonnes, was up 9% (YoY). And this strong volume growth helped the company post good numbers, with net sales Rs.17325 crore, up 13%. Net profit came in at Rs.4395 crore, up 9%. In terms of costs, its big ticket outgo remains employee cost, which YoY rose 12% but as a percentage of total operating expenses, it was down to 47% v/s 49% in Q3Fy12. Power costs rose 38% and other income showed a surge of 26%. Going ahead, given the price hike for bulk diesel users, fuel costs are expected to only go up. Realisations were muted but the company is due to announce a price hike any time now and that, going ahead could be a big sweetener.

In earlier quarters, it was e-auction which helped drive sales but in Q3, it has come down from 11.4 million tonnes to 10.4 million tonnes (YoY). In terms of realisations, total value realization in Q3 was at Rs.3,082.4crore as against Rs.3,274 crore (YoY). For the current fiscal, the company had set itself production target of 464 million tonnes (MT) but it is likely to miss this in all likelihood. In FY12, it produced 435.84 MT coal, missing the revised production target of 447 MT.It reserves as at end of Q3FY13 stood at Rs.34,137 crore and as at 30th Sept 2012, cash balance was at a jaw dropping Rs.64,688 crore.