MUMBAI: Grasim Industries today said its consolidated net profit rose by 48.32 per cent to Rs 620 crore in the quarter to September, driven by an impressive show by its cement arm UltraTech, whose net more than doubled.

Consolidated revenue rose to Rs 6,602 crore compared to Rs 5,755 crore in the same quarter in previous fiscal, Aditya Birla Group company said in a statement here.

Ultratech’s net revenue stood at Rs 4,970 crore compared to Rs 4,192 crore. Its net profit for the period more than doubled to Rs 553 crore from Rs 265 crore a year ago.

“Variable cost rose by 8 per cent mainly on account of higher raw material prices linked to increases in railway freight in March and diesel prices. The rupee depreciation partially offset the benefit of softening in prices of imported coal. Extensive measures for cost improvement and logistics optimisation helped in curbing costs to an extent,” the company said.

The company said its board approved a capex plan of Rs 223 crore to set up a facility in Gujarat for producing epoxy.

“The epoxy plant at Vilayat, Gujarat, having a capacity of 51,500 tonne per annum, is expected to be operational in the third quarter of next fiscal,” it said.

On the expansion plans in Chhattisgarh and Karnataka, the company said both are on track and expected to be operational by the first quarter of next fiscal. Consequently, UltraTech’s cement capacity will be enhanced by 10 million tonne per annum to 62 million tonne per annum.

For the VSF business, it said the volumes grew by 8 per cent despite the global adversities and domestic water shortage.

Margins are under pressure given the increase in input costs of caustic soda, coal and sulphur. The effect of higher caustic prices is reflected in the higher profitability of the chemical business, it said.