Its revenue from operations increased 3.5% YoY to Rs 32,931 crore in the July-September period.
The profit growth was led by an increase in earnings from gas transmission business and as a turnaround in petrochemical business neutralised fall in marketing margin.
India’s biggest natural gas transmission and marketing firm reported a 26% drop in operating profit in the gas marketing business during the quarter to Rs 1,329 crore. Operating profit in the gas transmission business increased 8% to Rs 1,403 crore.
The petrochemicals business swung to a profit of Rs 158 crore during the quarter from a loss of Rs 160 crore a year earlier. The LPG and liquid hydrocarbons business recorded operating profit of Rs 249 crore compared to a loss of Rs 17 crore in the year-ago period.
“The petrochemical segment is expected to be reasonably profitable in FY 2024-25,” GAIL chairman Sandeep Kumar Gupta said in a statement.The company said it incurred a capex of Rs 1,885 crore during the current quarter, mainly on pipelines, petrochemicals etc., taking cumulative capex upto H1 FY25 to Rs 3,544 crore.Analysts expected GAIL to benefit from a strong increase in gas transmission and trading volumes amid overall lower domestic gas prices.
GAIL supplies about 52% of the natural gas sold in the country and primarily serves the power and fertilizer sectors.