OREANDA-NEWS. February 17, 2014. GAIL (India) Ltd reported a 31 per cent increase in net profit for the December quarter at ?1,679 crore on higher prices and realisations from a partial stake sale in China Gas. The Government’s move to exempt the company from paying subsidy also boosted the bottomline.

Revenue for the quarter rose 28 per cent to 15,980 crore against the corresponding last quarter’s 12,474 crore.

GAIL Chairman and Managing Director BC Tripathi attributed the profit growth to higher gas prices and volumes. Excluding the China Gas sale net proceeds of 345 crore, growth in the company’s December quarter profit stood at 9 per cent.

Tripathi said the Government had decided to cap GAIL’s contribution towards fuel subsidy at ?1,400 crore, and this has already been paid in the first half of the current fiscal year. As a result, the company will not pay any subsidy in the third and fourth quarters.

GAIL sold 8.6 million standard cubic metres a day (mscmd) of imported LNG in the December quarter against 3.2 mscmd in the corresponding last quarter. However, the volume of gas transmitted through its pipeline was about 12 mscmd less due to the lower availability from the Panna Mukta and Tapti fields.

Tripathi said GAIL imported about eight cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) during the quarter against three cargoes a year ago. In the March quarter, GAIL expects to bring in about seven cargoes, taking the total to 26 for the full fiscal year.