Tata Steel more than doubled its consolidated net profit for the March quarter, powered by strong India operations, improved profitability in the Netherlands and narrowing losses in the UK. The company, though, cautioned about the potential impact of the West Asia crisis on costs.The steelmaker’s consolidated net profit jumped to Rs 2,965 crore in the fourth quarter from Rs 1,201 crore a year earlier, while revenue rose to Rs 63,270.13 crore from Rs 56,218.11 crore. Reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) rose to Rs 9,953 crore from Rs 6,762 crore in January-March 2025.For fiscal 2026, Tata Steel’s consolidated net profit more than tripled to Rs 10,886 crore, while revenue rose to Rs 232,140 crore from Rs 218,543 crore. Ebitda surged 35% year-on-year to Rs 34,848 crore.“Tata Steel delivered a markedly improved performance for the second year in a row, despite subdued steel prices across key markets,” chief financial officer Koushik Chatterjee said. “Higher volumes and an improved product mix in India, combined with tangible benefits of around Rs 10,868 crore from the cost transformation programme, led to an improvement in Ebitda margin of 320 bps on a YoY basis,” he said.The company managed to bring down its net debt for the year by Rs 2,285 crore to Rs 80,144 crore, resulting in a net debt-to-Ebitda ratio of 2.3 times. It spent Rs 14,026 crore on capital expenditure during the fiscal.Tata Steel announced its earnings after market hours. Its shares closed at Rs 216.80 on the BSE on Friday, down 1.97% from the previous close.The company has also announced a dividend of Rs 4 per share.OutlookDevelopments in West Asia are beginning to exert pressure on Tata Steel’s supply chains and input costs, and these pressures are continuing in the current fiscal, chief executive officer T V Narendran said in a statement.While import safeguards and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism in Europe have improved pricing conditions, operations in the Netherlands are facing a challenging regulatory environment, he said.Tata Steel Netherlands paid more than €20 million in fiscal 2026 as penalties related to its Ijmuiden unit, based on the local environment agency’s measurements of exceedances of emissions of substances versus prescribed limits.“Many of these penalties relate to exceedances where no technically and operationally feasible best practices are currently available globally to address the issue within a time frame acceptable to the Environment Agency, given the design and vintage of these coke ovens (40-50 years old),” the company said.In the UK, changes announced for import quotas are likely to bring greater balance to a market where demand conditions remain a cause for concern, it said.(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com.)