(Reuters) -India’s Patanjali Foods posted a 67.4% increase in quarterly profit on Friday, on strong demand for its edible oils.
The Sunrich edible oil maker’s profit after tax rose to 5.17 billion rupees ($58.82 million) for the quarter ended September 30 from 3.09 billion rupees a year earlier.
Patanjali Foods benefited from a cut in import duty on crude edible oils to 10% from 20%.
The move, aimed at easing inflation and boosting domestic refining, reduced the cost of local processing and supported edible oil makers’ margins.
Revenue from Patanjali’s edible oils business, which makes up nearly 70% of the total, rose 17.2% during the quarter to 69.72 billion rupees.
The firm also reduced prices on select edible oils, including its ghee, to pass on benefits from a recent cut in goods and services tax to customers.
Larger rivals AWL Agri Business and Saffola owner Marico are yet to report results.
Overall revenue increased by 21% to 97.99 billion rupees.
Shares of Patanjali ended 1.2% lower ahead of the results on Friday.
($1 = 87.8950 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Yagnoseni Das and Meenakshi Maidas in Bengaluru; Editing by Ronojoy Mazumdar)
