Birla Corporation Q2 profit plunges 58.9% to ₹37 crore on higher input costs

What happened

Birla Corporation reported a 58.9 per cent year-on-year fall in consolidated net profit to ₹37 crore for the September quarter, down from ₹90 crore a year earlier, as higher input costs and weak cement prices hit margins.

Confirmed

Global impact / market context

Rising clinker, power and fuel costs, especially a 64 per cent jump in pet coke prices, shrank profit per sale, which means Birla keeps less money from each tonne of cement sold even though revenue rose 9 per cent.

Analyst inference

Cement demand held up, with sales volume up 7 per cent and capacity utilisation steady at 85 per cent, but weaker prices in core markets and costlier fuel squeezed earnings, showing how input costs can outweigh volume growth for cement makers.

Analyst inference

What to watch

1. Watch whether clinker, power and fuel costs keep rising, since clinker cost rose 13 per cent and power and fuel cost rose 15 per cent as pet coke prices climbed 64 per cent. Confirmed
2. The company aims to contain costs by raising green power consumption to 32 per cent from 30 per cent and by extracting coal from its Bikram site, which could lower future fuel expenses. Proposed
3. Track cement prices in core markets and the share of premium products, which grew 17 per cent to 2.38 million tonnes, because stronger pricing would lift profit per tonne after the fall to ₹482. Analyst inference

Evidence

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