Coal India Ltd, the country’s largest miner, posted 52.3 per cent dip in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,295.30 crore for the fourth quarter of last fiscal ended March 31, on higher employee cost.

It had reported profit of Rs 2,718.8 crore in the January-March quarter of the preceding fiscal 2016-17, the state-owned company said in a BSE filing.

The company’s income increased to Rs 28,909.3 crore, over Rs 26,633.89 crore.

The consolidated expenses of the company during March quarter were at Rs 27,757.10 crore, as against Rs 22,352.70 crore.

“Post applicability of Goods and Services Tax (GST)…revenue from operations are disclosed net of GST. Accordingly, the revenue from operations and total expenses for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2018 are not comparable with the corresponding previous periods presented in the results,” the filing said.

The company’s employee benefits expense in the quarter under review were at Rs 16,653.86 crore, as against Rs 9,240.67 crore, the filing said.

The consolidated gross sales of the PSU during the quarter was at Rs 37,494.6 crore, registering an increase of 5.8 per cent.

CIL’s production for the year ended March 31, 2018 was up at 567.3 million tonnes (MT), as against 554.14 MT a year earlier.

CIL, which accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic coal output, has pegged its production estimate at 630 million tonne for 2018-19.

The CIL stock fell nearly 1 per cent to Rs 282.15 on BSE.