Although the net profit is down in absolute terms, net profit last year also included the profit on sale of rigs, which boosted the bottomline.

The profit this year has been adversely affected due to the implementation of revised accounting standards and due to provision for tariff minimum charges of MSEB and water royalty charges. The two items pulled back the profit by Rs 6.44 crore to Rs 30.39 crore.

"The graphite electrode division exports and expansion have been the key focus areas. A competitive pricing strategy and expansion helped us see a 10 per cent growth in the division as compared to negative growth in the previous year, executive director VP Singh, told The Financial Express.

Electrode business contributed close to 53 per cent in the company's total revenue. during the year, export volume of graphite division rose by 13 per cent to 15123 tonnes. HEG is spending close to Rs 6 crore to debottleneck its operations to improve its annual electrode capacity by around 1500-2000 tonnes to around 23,000 tonnes. Further, the international prices are also expected to harden, which augurs well for the company. The company has a healthy order book position and close to 8 months capacity is already booked, said the company's president, RC Surana.

The company said it was considering increasing prices of its primary product, graphite electrodes in the domestic as well as international markets. "We are planning to increase the prices of graphite electrodes by at least 5 to 6 per cent in the current fiscal," said Surana. The price hike would be in line with the international trend, he said.