Vedanta Ltd on Friday reported a 49 per cent rise in its consolidated profit at Rs 2,348 crore for the December 2019 quarter on the back of lower expenses.

The company had posted a profit of Rs 1,574 crore in the October-December period of the previous financial year, Vedanta Ltd said in a filing to the BSE. The profit is “attributable to the owners of Vedanta Ltd”, the filing said.

In a statement, the company said “attributable PAT (was) at Rs 2,348 crore, up 49 per cent year-on-year”.

However, the company had posted a decline in consolidated income at Rs 22,007 crore in the October-December period over Rs 25,067 crore in the year-ago period.

The company’s consolidated expenses, however, declined to Rs 18,369 crore against Rs 21,589 crore in the year-ago period.

“We remain on track to become the world’s largest integrated zinc-lead-silver producer in two years while maintaining our cost leadership,” Vedanta CEO Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan said.