Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) has announced its financial results for the third quarter of current financial year.

India’s largest power equipment manufacturer has posted a marginal 2.4 percent growth in net profit for Q3 ended December 31, 2008 on account of high raw material costs and increased wage revision.

Its net profit stood at Rs 790.56 crore against Rs 771.90 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2007.

Tokyo - Toyota Motor Corp's operating loss for the fiscal year 2008 was to expand to 400 billion yen (4.44 billion dollars) from an earlier projection of a 150-billion-yen loss, media reports said Friday.

As Japan's leading automaker is suffering from declining demand and the yen's advance against other currencies, it was expected to incur the first-ever operating loss for the business year ending in March.

It was also expected to report the first net loss since 1963, when it started publishing net results, according to Japan's business daily The Nikkei.

The nation's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd recently announced that quarterly profit plunged by 54.3%, lagging forecasts in the midst of high raw material costs, lower volumes and adverse impact of currency changes.

On Thursday, New Delhi-based Maruti informed that its net profit plunged to 2.14 billion rupees ($43.8 million) in its fiscal Q3 ended December.

The company confirmed that there is a fall by 2.8% in the net sales to 46.26 billion rupees.

Chennai-based commercial vehicle manufacturer and Hinduja Group owned company, Ashok Leyland announced financial results for the third quarter of current financial year.

The company, under the impact of lower sales due to economic slowdown, posted decline of 82.64 per cent in net profit for the Q3 ended December, 2008. It stood at just Rs 21.09 crore in the reporting quarter as compared to Rs 121.49 crore during the same quarter last year.

Decline in input cost prices and strong performance by hair and skin care category helped Dabur India Ltd to show good results in the third quarter of current financial year. The firm posted a rise of 16.1% in net profit for Q3 ended December 31, 2008 despite low customer spending and tight financial conditions.

Sunil Duggal, Chief Executive, Dabur India said, "Even in the current economic scenario, demand for our everyday use products continue to be strong and we have not seen any significant impact on consumer spending." He hoped that the firm would continue to expand its business in next financial year despite global slowdown.

Higher input costs and global slowdown adversely hit the business of state operated Steel Authority of India (SAIL) for the third quarter of current financial year.

The steel giant registered 56.4% decline in net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2008 leading to a setback for its expansion plans amid recessionary waves across the world.