Vedanta posts 75 per cent fall in profit

London (PTI) Hit by waning demand and crash in commodity prices, metal and mining major Vedanta Resources on Thursday reported a 75 per cent decline in its profit to USD 219.4 million for the year-ended March 31, 2009. The NRI billionaire Anil Agarwal-led group had recorded a profit of USD 879 million in the same period a year ago. "These are robust results in a challenging environment, which reflect the inherent strengths of Vedanta's business model," Vedanta Resources Chairman Anil Agarwal said. The company, he added, is confident of delivering another year of profitable growth and "strong free cash flow" with better volume growth, high quality assets and cost reductions. During the year, the conglomerate, with operations across India, Zambia, Africa, Australia, among others had a record production of iron ore, aluminium and zinc and is on track to produce 1 million tonnes (mt) each of copper and zinc-lead, 2.5 mt of aluminium, 25 million tonnes of iron ore and 6,500 of captive and commercial power in the next 2-3 years. The company also reviewed its capital expenditure programme to reduce the total spending for its projects by USD 5.3 billion on account of saving and deferral during the reporting period.