Coal India tanks into the red

While the total consolidated income of Coal India dropped 7% (YoY) at Rs.16,213 crore, the 15% increase in employee benefit expenses further compounded the fall. In fact employee expense is its biggest outgo and comprises of 52% of total costs incurred. Total expenses showed a 10% jump up.

EBITDA was dragged down by a whopping 78% at Rs.743 crore with margins falling down sharply from 19.5% to 4.6%. All this led to the net profit coming in at Rs.600 crore, a fall of over 77%.

The company, which supplies 80% of Indian coal requirement, is sitting on a cash balance of Rs.9559 crore and borrowings are comparatively meager at around Rs.300 crore.

The market is not happy with the sharp fall in bottomline and it has reacted accordingly – Coal India is currently the top loser on the BSE, down 3% at Rs.295 levels.