Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd, the flagship company of The Chatterjee Group, returned to profit after a gap of five years as the company reaped the benefit of higher polymer prices in the wake of the West Asia war.

The company, one of the largest enterprises in Bengal, reported a profit after tax of ₹244.8 crore on a standalone basis in the fiscal year concluded in March, swinging from a loss of ₹688.6 crore in the preceding year.

The performance was driven in part by the performance of the fourth quarter when HPL’s margin expanded in the wake of US-Israel’s war in Iran, affecting the hydrocarbon industry deeply.

HPL, which operates a petrochemical complex in Haldia, reported a ₹479.4-crore PAT in the January-March quarter compared with a PAT of ₹140.9 crore in Q4FY25 and ₹131.2 crore loss in Q3FY26, partly capturing the impact of the war on petro commodity prices.

Total income from operations went up to ₹4,295.6 crore from ₹3,392.9 crore in the same period of FY25, an increase of 26.6 per cent.

Company officials said the average polymer realisation stood at ₹106,494 per tonne in the fourth quarter compared with ₹84,941 per tonne in the previous quarter.

While product prices zoomed by 25 per cent, led by disruptions in trade flows from a key energy source like West Asia as war hit shipping movement via Strait of Hormuz and petro complexes in the region, HPL benefited from raw material (naphtha) inventory purchased before the war at a lower cost.

Consequently, it also reported the highest-ever quarterly EBITDA of ₹961 crore in the fourth quarter, underscoring strong operational performance. Apart from higher production throughput, HPL could also liquidate opening inventory, seizing the opportunity.

HPL’s quarterly performance, which captures how petrochemical and polymer market went into a tizzy immediately after the war, translated into a 54 per cent surge in the tolling margin for Haldia Petro. The margin indicates the difference between actual product prices and actual feedstock cost.

HPL officials said the volatility in product and feedstock prices are still continuing, as Iran and the US work on a fragile peace accord.

The volatility had, however, an unintended impact on the downstream industries of petrochemical companies, many of which are in the MSME sector, who had to grapple with soaring polymer cost and erratic supplies eroding margins.