IPCL, a Reliance group company, has posted an 8 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 81 crore (Rs 810 million) for the third quarter ended December 31, 2003 as against Rs 75 crore (Rs 750 million) in the same period last fiscal.

The net turnover for the reporting quarter grew by 79.4 per cent to Rs 2,778 crore (Rs 27.78 billion) as against Rs 1,548 crore (Rs 15.48 billion) in October-December 2002, the company said in a release in Mumbai on Wednesday.

The net profit and turnover for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2003 stood at Rs 174 crore (Rs 1.74 billion) [Rs 114 crore (Rs 1.14 billion) in April-December 2002] and Rs 5,478 crore (Rs 54.78 billion) [Rs 3,656 crore (Rs 36.56 billion)] respectively, it said.

The company chairman Mukesh Ambani said: "We are happy with IPCL's sixth consecutive quarter of strong financial performance, post our (Reliance) acquisition in June 2002."

"The company is poised to benefit from the forthcoming petrochemical upcycle which will see improvement in margins on the back of capacity rationalisation in the world," he added.
 
The company's production during the nine-month period was 3.53 million tonnes as against 3.1 million tonnes, showing a 14 per cent growth, it said.

Manufactured exports in nine months grew by 38 per cent to Rs 432 crore (Rs 4.32 billion) as against Rs 313 crore (Rs 3.13 billion) while merchant exports during the same period stood at Rs 1,189 crore (Rs 11.89 billion), the release said.

The company incurred extraordinary expenditure of Rs 144 crore (Rs 1.44 billion) in the nine months for VRS which was accepted by 1,700 employees, it said.