India’s Jindal Steel posts surprise loss on weak steel prices, impairment charges

India’s Jindal Steel and Power, opens new tab reported a surprise loss in the fourth quarter on Wednesday, due to one-off impairment charges related to its Australia and Madagascar assets, and weak steel prices.

The company reported a consolidated net loss of 3.39 billion rupees ($40.09 million), compared to a profit of 9.35 billion rupees last year. Analysts, on average, had expected a profit of 10.5 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The steelmaker incurred one-off expenses of 12.29 billion rupees due to impairment provisions related to its mining assets in Australia and Madagascar.

Total revenue from operations fell 2.3% to 131.83 billion rupees on weak steel prices. Expenses dropped 3.3% to 119.45 billion rupees, due to lower cost of raw materials.

Key context

Analysts had expected Jindal Steel’s quarterly volume to contract by 2%-5% due to capacity constraints, mainly underutilization at key facilities and ongoing expansion projects.

More broadly, domestic steel mills have been struggling with a surge in cheap steel imports. India, the world’s second-biggest crude steel producer, was a net importer of finished steel for a second straight year in 2024/25, with nearly 80% coming from China, South Korea and Japan. Imports rose 14.6% last financial year.

However, on April 21, the government imposed a temporary 12% tax, known locally as a safeguard duty, on some steel products to protect local producers from a surge in cheap imports, chiefly from China.