Calcutta, May 6: Chinese imports have dented the profits of alkaline battery maker Eveready Industries, which suffered a 26.65 per cent dip in standalone net profit at Rs 3.99 crore for the March quarter against Rs 5.44 crore in the same period a year ago.

Net sales though expanded 3.06 per cent to Rs 283.16 crore from Rs 274.75 crore in the same time a year ago.

"The battery market is being dumped by poor quality imports from China as India does not levy a duty on them. It comprises 10 per cent of the total market size of 2.6 billion units," Amritanshu Khaitan, managing director of Eveready Industries, told The Telegraph.

Measures against Chinese dumping have been afoot for some time - both from an internal marketing perspective as well as in seeking regulatory support within the legal framework.

The investigation initiated by the directorate-general of anti-dumping and allied duties on the imports of "AA" batteries (which account for nearly 70 per cent of the market) from China and Vietnam is now at an advanced stage, Eveready said in a statement.

"We are expecting them to take some concrete steps within the next few months," Khaitan said.

Apart from Chinese goods, the other factors that contributed to the bad numbers were significant muted consumer demand, particularly in the rural battery market, and de-growth in the organised flashlights category.

However, the company recorded a robust growth of 46 per cent in lighting products - contributed significantly by turnover of LED bulbs.

Eveready said it was trying to spur demand in the flashlights segment, though the benefit of this marketing drive will be evident only from this financial year.

The company's efforts to scale up its income from lighting products and its plans to expand the product range in this category will help the company's growth, a statement said.

Moreover, it is also planning a sales push for the newly launched home appliances segment.

"By the end of the current fiscal the lighting and appliances segment may help us grow 20 to 30 per cent," Khaitan claimed.

For the financial year ended March 2016, the company's consolidated net profit grew 3.41 per cent to Rs 50.59 crore from Rs 48.92 crore a year ago.

Net sales in 2015-16 stood at Rs 1,322.54 crore, up 3.5 per cent against Rs 1,277.76 crore in the previous fiscal.