Other Income decreased 38% to Rs 11.6 crore in Q3CY19 from Rs 18.6 crore in Q3CY18 while interest cost was Rs 0.3 crore and depreciation rose 38% to Rs 18.6 crore. As a result PBT was up 2% to Rs 237.2 crore. Effective rate of tax fell 1480 bps to 20.6% leading a 25% increase in PAT to Rs 188.4 crore.

For 9MCY'19 Net Sales of the company was flat at Rs 2865 crore compared to corresponding previous year while bottomline increased 12% to Rs 556.1 crore. OPM rose 210 bps to 28.3% leading a 8% rise in operating profits to Rs 811.8 crore. Other income decreased 17% to Rs 48.6 crore while interest cost was Rs 0.9 crore and depreciation up 25% to Rs 51.4 crore. PBT as a result rose 5% to Rs 808.1 crore. Effective rate of taxes fell 440 bps to 31.2% leading a 12% increase in PAT to Rs 556.1 crore.

Commenting on the results, Omer Dormen, Managing Director, Castrol India Limited said: "Our 3Q 2019 result underlines a resilient performance despite an extremely challenging environment with declining industrial production levels and muted consumer offtake. Our sustained efforts on our strategic drivers including product mix improvement and rigorous efficiency programmes helped us to successfully manage the short-term adverse conditions and still deliver a profitable growth for the third quarter as well as the first nine months.

In this quarter, we continued making strong progress on strategic partnerships and unique service offerings for our customers. We are excited about our first two-wheeler OEM-endorsed Castrol brand for the retail market with Honda 2 Wheelers India. A new range of Castrol Activ lubricants was launched exclusively for Honda's ever-growing family of over 40 million happy customers.

Castrol Fast Scan, a unique digital reward and payment platform for the mechanic and retailer community, has crossed 1.5 lakh registrations opening a potential avenue for collaboration with other corporates looking to reach similar stakeholders in a seamless, transparent manner.

In line with our goal to transition to a low carbon environment, we launched our industry first Castrol Certified Carbon Neutral programme enabling our customers to reduce as well as offset their carbon footprint in support of their sustainability agenda. The first Carbon Neutral car dealership was inaugurated in Bangalore which has offset 100% of its operating emissions across all its 12 sales and service locations.

I am delighted that we continue to put in place building blocks for the future while looking to create significant differentiation in the market and add value to our customers."

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