Mumbai, Feb 2 (PTI) Finolex Industries, the largest manufacturer of PVC pipes and fittings, on Tuesday reported a massive 174.2 per cent jump in net income to Rs 255.8 crore for the third quarter ended December driven by a near doubling of operational margin.

The Pune-based company said its revenue during the quarter under review grew 52.5 per cent to Rs 1,066.88 crore from Rs 699.40 crore a year ago.

The company said its EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) margin jumped to 32.5 per cent from 19.9 per cent a year ago.

The bottomline was also boosted by an Rs 18.16 crore of other income, which was only Rs 6.20 crore a year ago. The bottomline numbers are so high despite its tax payout more than doubling to Rs 87.32 crore from Rs 31.31 crore, the company said.

Prakash P Chhabria, the chairman of the company, said the current year was extremely challenging due to the pandemic which disrupted supply chains and the resultant increase in commodity prices.

A decent monsoon and the subsequent increase in area under Rabi crops are encouraging signs to expect higher demand on the agri side, he said.

The budget seemed to be well allocated at a macro level for all relevant sectors that would act as an enabler to economic growth. Some of the key initiatives announced in the budget such as boost to the housing sector by extension of tax holiday, higher impetus on Jal Jeevan Mission, enhancement of agricultural credit and increased provision for rural infra development fund will go a long way in revival and sustainability of the PVC pipes sector, he said.

Finolex Industries has manufacturing plants in Pune and Ratnagiri in Maharashtra and Masar in Gujarat apart from its own PVC resin manufacturing facility in Ratnagiri, set up in technical collaboration with Uhde of Germany.

The Finolex counter rallied 8.33 per cent to Rs 642.10 on BSE.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)