The worst is behind us, SAIL confident of improving performance in Q4FY21, says CMD

• As we look ahead, we are confident of improving the performance further in the remaining period of the financial year, said the CMD

• In the December quarter of FY2020-21, SAIL posted a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 1,283 crore, which marked a 398.7 percent rise over the net loss of Rs 430 crore in Q3FY20

New Delhi: The Chairperson and Managing Director of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), Soma Mondal, sounded an optimistic note on Saturday when she said that the worst is behind us and the steel behemoth is confident of improving its performance in the last quarter of FY2020-21. A day after SAIL declared its Q3 earnings, Mondal said, "The worst is behind us. SAIL has shown overall improvement during the current financial year despite all the challenges. With the focus on seizing opportunities, the company has geared up to service the rising steel demand in the market as soon as the gradual opening of lockdown started. It has always been SAIL's strategy to operate in sync with the market situation."

"As we look ahead, we are confident of improving the performance further in the remaining period of the financial year," she added.

Recovery in key sectors gave a push to steel demand

There has been a countrywide turnaround in the overall economic activities after the short pause set in during the pandemic. In sectors like infrastructure, construction, manufacturing and automobiles, there has been a relatively rapid recovery. As these sectors are major steel consumers, the recovery in them have helped the up-rise in demand in domestic steel sector. The concerted thrust of the government to strengthen the infrastructure of the country has helped the domestic steel sector witness healthy demand generation.

SAIL posts PAT of Rs 1,283 cr in Q3

In the December quarter of FY2020-21, SAIL posted a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 1,283 crore, which marked a 398.7 percent rise over the net loss of Rs 430 crore in Q3 of the previous financial year on account of a global fall in steel prices. The turnover for Q3 also registered a growth of 19.6 percent year-on-year as it settled at Rs 19,614 crore as opposed to Rs 16,405 crore in the corresponding period of the previous financial year. EBITDA for Q3 of FY2020-21 registered a growth of 346.4 percent when compared to the corresponding quarter of FY2019-20.

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For the April-December period, PAT stood at Rs 406 crore, up from a net loss of Rs 704 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. The turnover for the period stood at Rs 45,286 crore, up by 0.6 percent when compared to Rs 45,001 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. EBITDA for the 9-month period grew by 70.3 percent in comparison to the corresponding period of FY2019-20.

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