Panaji
Weak commodity prices took a toll on Vedanta’s performance as the company posted 43% drop in profit in the year 2015-16. Vedanta’s attributable profit after tax before exceptional items fell from Rs 5,097 crores in FY 2014-15 to Rs 2,910 crores in FY 2015-16.
Interestingly, revenue fell by 13% in FY 2015-16, but EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation), which is a measure of operating profit, fell by a whopping 33%. This was on account of contributions to district mineral fund and renewable power obligations alongwith weak commodity prices.
Despite tight conditions, the company managed to ramp-up production across India. Vedanta posted record annual production of zinc, lead, silver at Zinc India, aluminium, power and copper cathodes during the year. There was a good news on this front on its oil and gas business too as the company ramped-up Mangala Enhanced Oil Recovery Program.
Tom Albanese, chief executive officer, Vedanta, said, “This year we successfully lowered production costs across all businesses, while achieving record annual production at Zinc India and of aluminium, power and copper cathodes. This is the result of our continued efforts to drive innovation, to optimise our existing low-cost operations across our Tier 1 assets”.
