Tata Steel’s profit rose 18% as its Indian business sold far more steel in a seasonally weak quarter. The Dutch operations, a drag for years, are back to positive operating profit.
Tata Steel reported consolidated net profit attributable to shareholders of ₹3,666 crore for the September quarter, up 18.2% from ₹3,102 crore a year earlier and up 58% from the June quarter. The results were released on Saturday.
Revenue rose 11.5% to ₹65,436 crore. EBITDA rose 14% from the June quarter and 17% from a year earlier to ₹10,665 crore, which works out to more than ₹13,000 for every tonne of steel delivered.
India at the centre
The Indian business accounted for the bulk of the improvement. Indian operations earned profit after tax of ₹5,055 crore, up about 20%. EBITDA was ₹17,790 a tonne, a margin of 25%.
The volume numbers are striking given the timing. The September quarter is usually weak for steel in India, because the monsoon slows construction. Yet crude steel production in India rose 7% from the June quarter to 6.18 million tonnes, and domestic deliveries rose 16% to 5.98 million tonnes. Across the group, deliveries rose 9% to about 7.92 million tonnes.
Higher-value steel helped. The automotive and special products business, which supplies carmakers and other demanding customers, delivered about 1.1 million tonnes, its best ever for a September quarter, with high-end sales up 26%. That fits the wider picture of record vehicle sales in India this festive season.
Neelachal Ispat Nigam, the Odisha steelmaker Tata Steel acquired in 2022, generated EBITDA of ₹318 crore. The company said its merger into Tata Steel remains on track for this financial year, subject to final tribunal approval.
But Europe turns a corner
Tata Steel’s European operations have weighed on the group for most of the past decade. This quarter, the Netherlands business reported revenue of €1,395 million and EBITDA of €72 million, helped by the restart in August of a production unit that had been shut.
That is a modest profit for a business of that size. But after years in which Europe absorbed much of what India earned, a positive and improving contribution matters for the group’s overall returns.
Tata Steel spent ₹3,280 crore on capital projects during the quarter, bringing the first-half total to ₹6,860 crore. Net debt stood at ₹91,423 crore, and the company had liquidity of ₹40,076 crore.
For the first half, revenue was ₹1,26,231 crore and EBITDA ₹20,035 crore, up 21%.
What to watch
The outlook depends on three things. Steel prices in India have been supported by strong domestic demand and by trade measures that limit cheap imports; any change there would affect margins quickly. Input costs, particularly coking coal, remain elevated. And the European recovery needs to prove it can last beyond one quarter.
The results came on a Saturday, so the share price reaction will come during Sunday’s Muhurat trading session and on Monday.
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