Jindal Stainless Steel scrip shines bright on the bourse

Chennai: The shares of Jindal Stainless Steel shone bright on Friday shooting up to Rs 493, a day after it declared the second quarter results with a quantum jump in profit, interim dividend and the decision to shut down two of its overseas subsidiaries.

The scrip with a face value of Rs 2 at the BSE opened at Rs 493 after closing at Rs 448. The share came down from the days peak to hit a low of Rs 457.65, only to climb up and change hands in Rs 470 range.

On Thursday, the company said it had closed the second quarter of FY24 with an operational revenue of Rs 9,720.35 crore (Q2FY23 Rs 8,556.34 crore) and a net profit of Rs 609.40 crore (Rs 349.24 crore).

Incidentally, the company’s Q2 profit was lower than the preceding quarter of Rs 665.56 crore.

The company’s Board on Thursday approved in-principle the proposal to explore the option for selling/liquidating/divesting equity stake in its subsidiary, PT Jindal Stainless, Indonesia (PTJSI), at Gresik, Indonesia.

The decision was taken in the wake of unfavourable market conditions in Indonesia due to the lack of a level playing field and competition with Chinese products.

Most of the Indonesian market is dominated by Chinese players, and therefore, major markets such as the US and EU have levied severe trade protection measures on exports of stainless steel products from Indonesia.

Consequently, the situation renders PTJSI – which has an installed capacity of about 12,000 metric ton per month but is operating at a utilisation of about 15 per cent – unviable, the company said.

According to Abhyuday Jindal, Managing Director, the company’s domestic sales went up by 15 per cent year-on-year (YoY), buoyed by the government’s push for stainless steel in strategic sectors.

He also said Chinese imports have increased by nearly 55 per cent YoY. This highlights the unchecked dumping of subsidised and substandard Chinese products in the Indian market.

“We hope the government will take notice of the continuous and rampant imports by China, which is hurting the sector, especially the MSMEs, as well the government’s vision of an Atmanirbhar Bharat,” he had said.

Jindal Stainless Steel has declared an interim dividend of Re.1 per share.