Calcutta: Coal India has reported a 39.77 per cent drop in net profit for the July-September quarter of 2017-18 on the back of a higher employee benefit cost and a modest increase in revenue.

Net profit at the end of the quarter was Rs 368.88 crore compared with Rs 612.44 crore in the corresponding period previous year.

Revenue from operations during the quarter stood at Rs 18,148.31 crore, a growth of 4.19 per cent over Rs 17,418.43 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

While average realisation from the sale of coal through fuel supply agreement at Rs 1,224 per tonne was similar to the previous year's level, e-auction sales volume during the quarter was 23.28 million tonnes at an average realisation of Rs 1,614 per tonne, an improvement over the last year.

Employee benefit expenses during the quarter were Rs 9,154.96 crore compared with Rs 8,403.90 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The expenses include an estimated provision of Rs 2,300.87 crore towards salary and wages of the non-executive employees on account of the pending implementation of the National Coal Wage Agreement X, which was subsequently finalised on October 10, 2017.

The expenses also include an ad-hoc provision of Rs 95.14 crore towards the salary and wages of executive employees.

Coal production and offtake during the quarter were 113.04 million tonnes and 131.58 million tonnes, respectively, compared with 104.37 million tonnes and 115.87 million tonnes in the same quarter of the previous year.