Coal India Q4 Profit Drops 18% On Wage Bill; Record Net Profit In FY23

New Delhi: Coal India Ltd, the world's largest coal miner, on Sunday reported a 17.7 percent drop in its March quarter net profit on higher provisions made for wage revision of employees. Consolidated net profit of Rs 5,527.62 crore, or Rs 8.98 per share, in January-March, is compared with Rs 6,715 crore, or Rs 10.86 a share earning in the same period a year back, according to the company's filing with stock exchanges.

The decline in profit in the fourth quarter of 2022-23 (April 2022 to March 2023) was despite coal production and dispatches to users. ()

The company said salaries for non-executives are due for revision from July 1, 2021, and pending finalisation of a wage agreement with unions, a provision of Rs 5,870.16 crore has been made in the quarter. ()

This is compared with Rs 475.28 crore provision in January-March 2022. For the full 2022-23 fiscal, Coal India made a provision of Rs 8,152.75 crore as against Rs 1,080.97 crore provided in the previous 2021-22 financial year.

Coal production rose 7 percent to 224.16 million tonnes in the quarter ended March 31. Offtake increased to 186.877 million tonnes in the quarter as compared to 180.249 million tonnes in the period ended March 31, 2022.

The company board of directors declared a Rs 4 per share final dividend for the fiscal. The firm had previously declared Rs 15 a share and Rs 5.25 per share interim dividends.

The sale was up at Rs 35,161.44 crore in Q4 from Rs 29,985.45 crore a year back. Coal India has been in negotiations with the employee unions for wage revision. Workers are seeking a 47 percent increase in wages while Coal India has offered a 3 percent raise.

Its salary bill was Rs 49,409 crore in the 12 months that ended March, about 22 percent higher than the previous year. The company, which is facing higher production costs, spent more than a third of its revenue on salaries.