The fertiliser business showed good performance driven

by tight focus on working capital and operational excellence backed on a normal monsoon and healthy demand, despite continued pressure of high subsidy outstanding at Rs 1,323 crore, Mukundan said.

Meanwhile, the consolidated net debt as on December 31, 2016, stood at Rs 5,883 crore against Rs 7,830 crore as on March 31, 2016.

"We have always maintained that to reduce the net debt in India to zero will take 4-5 quarters or a year or two," he said.

Talking about the last quarter, Mukundan said said, going forward the company will continue its focus on the delivering operational excellence across its business and driving growth in consumer products and speciality chemicals.

However, there will be pressure on margins due to sharp rise in prices of energy and coking coal, he added.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)