Cairn India Ltd, which has its flagship crude oil production base in the Barmer region of Rajasthan, has reported an increase of 48 per cent in its net profit for the three months through December 2012.

The company said in a statement that net profit climbed to Rs 3,344.89 crore in the October to December quarter, from Rs 2,322.18 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The profit jumped despite decline in oil price realization. The oil giant received $96.2 per barrel of crude oil produced in third quarter of current fiscal, against $101.2 per barrel in the corresponding period the previous fiscal.

On the per share basis, the company's earnings jumped 39 per cent, from the Rs 11.85 in the third quarter of FY'12 to Rs 16.50 in the third quarter of FY'13.

Gross production jumped 21 per cent to settle at 205,114 barrels of oil equivalent per day. However, its production at its flagship Rajasthan block slipped from an average of 175,000 barrel of oil per day to 169,977 barrel of oil per day.

Cairn India now plans to drill additional 100 wells over a period of next three years. This will help the company in hiking the production of the company from the Barmer basin from the current 175,000 barrels per day to 300,000 barrels per day.

EBITDA, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation & amortization slipped 4.9 per cent quarter on quarter to Rs 3,258 crore in the past quarter.

The company has announced an interim dividend of Rs 5 per share.