BENGALURU, July 24 (Reuters) - Jindal Steel and Power (JNSP.NS) , opens new tab reported a drop in first-quarter profit on Wednesday as a string of higher expenses added to the dent caused by weak steel demand in a quarter that included the general elections.

The steelmaker's consolidated profit after tax fell 21% to 13.38 billion rupees (around $160 million) in the April-June quarter. Raw material costs surged 22%, leading to a 8% rise in expenses at 117.93 billion rupees, the company said , opens new tab.

KEY CONTEXT

Jindal Steel's coal mines have helped it offset rising iron ore costs for the past few quarters, while its results also got a lift from buoyant steel demand due to the government's sustained spending on manufacturing and infrastructure ahead of the general elections.

In April-June however, the general elections, which lasted for nearly half the quarter, led to muted steel demand, analysts said, which was compounded by higher costs of rebar, a key raw material for steelmakers.

Last week, bigger peer JSW Steel (JSTL.NS) , opens new tab reported a bigger-than-expected fall in profit.

PEER COMPARISON

* The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell ** The ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT

APRIL-JUNE STOCK PERFORMANCE

-- All data from LSEG

-- $1 = 83.6820 Indian rupees

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https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/indias-jindal-steel-posts-smaller-q1-profit-general-elections-hits-demand-2024-07-24/