It was reported that hit hard by the rise in finance costs and rupee depreciation, Jindal Stainless net loss has widened to INR 412 crore during the second quarter ended September 30th 2013.

The company had reported a net loss of INR 152 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

The company said that “During the September 2013 quarter total income of JSL rose by 23% to INR 3,039 crore vis a vis INR 2,464 crore of Q2FY'13. It primarily benefited from 24% growth in export of its products to INR 889 crore.”

Commenting on the results, company's Mr Jitender Pal Verma Executive Director of Finance said that JSL's interest cost for the quarter rose by nearly 18% to INR 296 crore on account of conversion of certain foreign currency loans into rupee loans and higher utilization of working capital facilities.

He said that “The company also incurred an exceptional loss of INR 223 crore during the quarter against an exceptional gain of INR 68 crore in the corresponding period due to sudden depreciation of rupee against major currencies, which has resulted in net loss of INR 412 crore.”

Mr Verma said that “However, Jindal Stainless has started making operating profit, which stood at INR 246 crore and was an increase of 110% from the levels of Q2 FY'13. EBITDA for the second quarter ended September 30th 2013 was at INR 246 crore which is 110% higher than the previous year corresponding period figure of INR 117 crore."

Giving its outlook, the company said that due to continuing high inflation, large fiscal and current account deficits and a volatile currency, domestic stainless steel industry has been fighting hard

to stay afloat.