Higher forex losses see Cairn India's Q4 net fall 11%

Oil and gas producer Cairn India reported a 11 percent dip in net profit at Rs 2,186 crore for the quarter ended 31 March, 2012 as against Rs 2,458 crore a year ago.

The company’s foreign exchange losses in the January-March quarter stood at Rs 217 crore, which was quite high compared to Rs 38 crore in the same period last year.

However, during the same period,net sales increased 17.9% to Rs 3,651 crore from Rs 3,096.8 crore and total income increased marginally to Rs 3,743.6 crore from Rs 3,692.8 crore.

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The numbers were slightly below CNBC-TV’s poll which estimated the company’s net profit to be around Rs 2,250 crore and sales of Rs 3,545 crore.

The company Board also approved a 20 percent dividend payout.

The oil major produced better numbers for the fiscal. Net profit for the financial year ended March 2012 increased 25 percent to Rs 7,937.7 crore from Rs 6,334.4 crore in the financial year ended March 2011. Total income also increased 23 percent to Rs 12,798.6 crore as against Rs 10,406.7 crore in March 2011.

In an exclusive interview to CNBC-TV18 Rahul Dhir, the company’s chief executive officer said that Cairn has around $1.5 billion cash on hand and will conclude corporate restructuring in Q2FY13.

The Vedanta group acquired a majority stake in Cairn in December after it agreed to share royalties on crude production from a key producing field in the northwestern state of Rajasthan with joint venture partner Oil & Natural Gas Corp.

Earlier, ONGC, which holds a 30% stake in Rajasthan block, was paying the entire royalty on production.