Steel Authority of India (SAIL) has registered a drop of 34% in its net profit, which remained at Rs 1,107.47 crore for the three month period ended December 2010.

State-run integrated steel manufacturer had a net profit of Rs 1,675.55 crore during the same period of 2009.

But, the company's revenue during the said period grew by 17.5% to Rs 12,276.81 crore as against Rs 10,447.63 crore registered during the same period of the previous fiscal.

Company's PBT for the quarter under review was Rs 1,628 crore.

The company saw decline in the profit margin mainly because of the rising cost of coking coal.

Mr. CS Verma, SAIL chairman stated, "The rise in prices of coking coal has heavily impacted the profitability. We lost Rs. 1,205 crore solely due to this price rise."

He expects the coking coal prices to remain northbound till the next fiscal. Flood in Australia will also add to the loss, he said.

Moreover, the company's board sanctioned interim dividend of Rs 1.20 per share for the fiscal 2010-11.

IIFL approximated a drop of 28.4% y-o-y basis in SAIL's net profit to Rs 12 billion and an increase of 11.6% y-o-y basis in grosses to Rs 108.25 billion.

At 11:23 a. m., the shares of the company declined 0.5% to trade at Rs 163.95 on the BSE.