MTNL net up 8% in first quarter

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL) announced a net profit of Rs 325.06 crore during the

first quarter ended 30 June of 1999, posting a growth of 8.39 per cent.

Interest costs for the period went down to Rs 1.07 crore

from Rs 27.61 crore in the first quarter. Despite an increase in the volume of traffic by

about 10 per cent, income from services declined from Rs 1,280.99 crore achieved in the

first quarter of 1998-99 to Rs 1,263.67 crore this year posting a negative growth of 1.39

per cent.

On the decline in income from services, MTNL Chairman and

Managing Director S. Rajagopalan stated that this was due to the introduction of new

tariffs and he also added that, the company's forecast of 16 per cent increase in profit

and 12.5 per cent increase in sales for fiscal 1999-2000 remained unchanged.