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.