Feb 11 (Reuters) - Indian battery maker Amara Raja Energy and Mobility reported a 51.4% fall in third-quarter profit on Wednesday, due to a rise in raw material costs and from a one-off charge tied to India's new labour codes.
The company's standalone net profit after tax fell to 1.52 billion rupees ($16.76 million) for the October-December period from 3.12 billion rupees a year earlier.
India made sweeping cuts in consumption taxes in September, boosting demand across sectors, including in automobiles. Amara Raja, which makes Amaron-branded car batteries, counts top automakers such as Bajaj Auto Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki as its clients and derives around 70% of its revenue from the automotive battery business.
However, analysts noted that prices of key raw materials such as aluminium, copper and steel shot up in the quarter, pushing up expenses.
A one-time charge of 438 million rupees linked to the new labour codes, India's most sweeping reform of worker regulations in decades, also weighed on Amara Raja's bottomline.
Expenses rose 8.5%, led by 12.9% jump in raw material costs.
Revenue rose about 5.9% to 33.51 billion rupees.
($1 = 90.6860 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Urvi Dugar and Meenakshi Maidas in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
