(Reuters) – India’s VST Tillers Tractors Ltd reported a 29.3% drop in second-quarter profit on Monday, as the agricultural machinery maker was hit by subdued growth in power tillers and weak tractor sales.
The company’s profit stood at 227.4 million Indian rupees ($2.8 million) for the quarter ended Sept. 30, down from 321.5 million rupees, a year earlier.
Revenue from operations rose a marginal 0.3% to 2.34 billion rupees, VST said.
Like the previous quarter, VST was hit by higher commodity costs in the latest quarter as well, with cost of materials increasing by 9.7%.
Sales volumes of power tillers, which accounted for roughly 84% of total volumes in the quarter, rose 2.2%.
Tractors sales volumes, which accounted for roughly 16% of total volumes, slid 27.4% from the year-ago quarter when the overall industry benefited from pent-up demand as COVID-19 lockdowns eased.
Analysts have said tractor sales came under pressure in the latest quarter due to uneven monsoon and a partial delay in kharif sowing. ($1 = 82.4480 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Dimpal Gulwani; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
