Industrial and automotive battery major, Amara Raja Batteries Limited has said that its net profit has risen 22.73 per cent to Rs 80.91 crore during the third quarter of the financial year.

The company had recorded a net profit of Rs 65.92 crore during the same quarter of the previous financial year. The company's total net sales rose to Rs 756.87 crore during the quarter from October to December, 2012 compared to Rs 612.39 crore recorded in the third quarter of 2011.

The company also informed the stock exchange that its board of directors have approved a capital expenditure of Rs 440 crore to augment manufacturing capacities of Large VRLA and Four Wheeler batteries.

Ravi Bhamidipati, executive director, Amara Raja Batteries said, "To capitalize on the growth opportunities ahead of us, we decided to invest Rs. 4.40 billion to augment capacities in Large VRLA and automotive 4-wheeler product lines over a period of 16 to 18 months."

He also said that the investment of Rs. 4.40 billion is in addition to the Rs. 3.04 billion that was approved earlier for the expansion of Medium VRLA capacities. Jayadev Galla, managing director, Amara Raja Batteries expressed happiness over the double digit profits even as the demand remained low.

The shares of the company rose 5 per cent in opening trade on Tuesday and are trading at Rs 317.05. The shares have hit a low of Rs 308 and a high of Rs 319.75 in trade today.