Escorts net profit down 75% in Jan-Mar quarter

Tractor major has reported a 75.24 per cent decline in its standalone net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2012, at Rs 18.13 crore.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 73.22 crore in the corresponding period last financial year, Escorts said in a statement.

The standalone total income from operations during the quarter also decreased by 11.38 per cent to Rs 795.07 crore from Rs 897.18 crore in the year-ago period, it added.

Commenting on the results, Escorts Chairman and MD Rajan Nanda said: "Despite a profitable quarter and growth over the immediate two preceding quarters, the industry environment is far from healthy with tractor sales for the industry down between 2 per cent and 9 per cent over the past four months.

"These have had an obvious impact on our performance both on the topline and the bottomline." The shares of the company today closed 2.42 per cent down at Rs 66.65 apiece on the BSE.