India’s Vedanta profit plummets 41% on soft metal prices

Indian metals-to-oil conglomerate Vedanta Ltd (VDAN.NS) reported a near 41 per cent drop in third-quarter profit on Friday, hit by a fall in commodity prices.

The Anil Agarwal-led firm's consolidated net profit fell to 24.64 billion rupees ($302.33 million) for the quarter ended Dec. 31 from 41.64 billion a year earlier, Vedanta said in an exchange filing.

Analysts had, on average, expected a profit of 20.67 billion rupees ($253.58 million), according to Refinitiv IBES data.

Prices of zinc, aluminium have fallen from their peaks by over 15 per cent in 2022 from a year earlier, while total expenses have surged 17 per cent, Vedanta said.

Vedanta's results continue to be impacted by the Indian government's windfall tax on crude oil.

For the December quarter, the company logged a loss of 3.33 billion rupees due to the windfall tax even though the government had significantly cut levies.

The conglomerate's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation fell by 35.1% year-on-year.

Aluminium production and refined metal production dropped 2% each.

The metals & mining major's revenue was flat at 336.91 billion rupees from a year ago. Last week, Hindustan Zinc (HZNC.NS), owned by Vedanta Group, reported a fall in quarterly profit, hit by lower zinc prices and silver production.