(Reuters) -Indian state-owned miner NMDC reported a lower first-quarter profit on Tuesday, as higher expenses and softer prices overshadowed gains from strong local demand.
The country’s largest state-run iron ore producer reported a nearly 1% drop in profit from a year ago to 19.69 billion rupees (about $225 million) in the quarter ended June 30.
The company’s royalty and other levies grew about 33% to 26.8 billion rupees, driving a 38% rise in overall expenses.
Indian miners pay royalties to the government as a fee for the right to extract minerals from the land.
Moreover, the company would be liable to pay 143.74 billion rupees in tax to the Karnataka State government, if a tax bill demanding higher royalties from miners becomes a law, NMDC said.
Domestic iron ore prices declined 14% in the quarter, data from brokerage Systematix Institutional Research and commodities consultancy firm BigMint showed.
India, the world’s third-largest iron ore producer, has imported about 800,000 metric tons of pellets so far in 2025, but shipments between 2021 and 2024 were negligible, Reuters had reported.
However, demand for iron ore – used to make steel – remained elevated in the first quarter, buoyed by higher manufacturing activity and government spending on infrastructure.
Its first-quarter revenue from operations rose 23% to 66.34 billion rupees, mainly due to higher sales in its pellets unit, which posted a more than 13-fold jump in revenue.
Revenue from its iron ore vertical grew 15% in the quarter.
($1 = 87.6180 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Manvi Pant)
