Shipping Corporation of India Ltd has posted a 74.79 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 133.23 crore (Rs 1,332.3 million) for the third quarter ended December 31, 2003, compared to Rs 76.22 crore (Rs 762.2 million) reported in the same period previous fiscal.

Net sales in the period under review also increased to Rs 731.23 crore (Rs 7,312.3 million) as against Rs 594.71 crore (Rs 5,947.1 million) in Q3 of the previous fiscal, SCI said in a release in Mumbai on Tuesday.

For the nine months ended December, net profit and net sales grew to Rs 369.85 crore (Rs 3,698.5 million) [Rs 147.29 crore (Rs 1,472.9 million) in the same period of FY03] and Rs 2,235.34 crore (Rs 22.35 billion) [Rs 1,714.54 crore (Rs 17.14 billion)], respectively.

In Q3, the revenue from liner segment was higher at Rs 194 crore (Rs 1,940 million) [Rs 175.06 crore (Rs 1,750.6 million) while it was Rs 527.33 crore (Rs 5,273.3 million) [Rs 411.55 crore (Rs 4.115.5 million) for the bulk segment.

In the quarter, SCI, which is on the government's divestment list, had declared an interim dividend of 170 per cent.

Recently, the government allowed SCI to proceed with big investments for its expansion.