India's Hindalco Q1 net falls 31 pct, beats f'cast

MUMBAI, July 31 (Reuters) - Hindalco Industries Ltd (HALC.BO), India's top aluminium maker, on Friday reported a smaller-than expected 31 percent fall in quarterly standalone net profit, helped by weakening raw material prices and better product mix. Hindalco, which bought Canada's Novelis in 2007, reported net profit of 4.81 billion rupees ($100 million) in the April-June quarter, compared with 6.97 billion rupees a year earlier. Net sales fell to 38.99 billion rupees from 46.48 billion. A Reuters poll of nine brokerages forecast net profit of 3.09 billion rupees for the quarter, on net sales of 38.52 billion. Last year, aluminium prices fell as the global economic slowdown hit demand for raw materials such as aluminium, used in automotive and construction industry. ($1=48.3 rupees) (Reporting by Narayanan Somasundaram; Editing by Himani Sarkar)