JSW Steel, the flagship business of 14 billion dollar JSW Group, on Friday reported 86 per cent year-on-year fall in standalone net profit at Rs 242 crore for January to March quarter as compared to Rs 1,727 crore in the same quarter last year.
Gross revenue for the quarter fell to Rs 15,020 crore from Rs 19,418 crore in the year-ago period. The company said revenue was hit due to lower volumes and a decline in realisations.
JSW Steel made an impairment provision of Rs 1,309 crore that led the sharp fall in profits.
This includes Rs 852 crore towards a diminution in value of investments and increased uncertainty in restarting iron ore mine in Chile on account of Covid-19 outbreak, Rs 377 crore for a shortfall in interest recovery relating to Baytown operations in the United States and Rs 80 crore towards the retirement of certain fixed assets in India.
"The fourth-quarter performance was marked by the emergence of Covid-19 pandemic and measures to curb its rapid spread," said the company in a statement.
The Indian economy was severely impacted by the temporary closure of economic activities across the country after the announcement of the first phase of nationwide lockdown in the last week of March.
"With a significant supply chain disruption and with a view to ensuring the safety of the workforce across all areas of operations, the company scaled down or suspended production across all facilities around this time period."
The company reported crude steel production of 3.97 million tonnes in Q4 FY20, down 5 per cent year-on-year, while saleable steel sales slipped 14 per cent to 3.7 million tonnes.
However, lower costs of key raw materials like iron ore and coal helped to partially offset the negative impact on margins.
( With inputs from ANI )