Mumbai, Nov 12 (IANS): Reliance Infrastructure, a part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has reported a marginal increase in net profit for the second quarter of this fiscal, but indicated this could have been higher but for the loss on account of the Metro rail project here.

The company said its net profit for the period under review was up 1 percent at Rs.431 crore, but that the same was higher by 14 percent at Rs.488 crore without taking into account the loss of Rs.57 crore on the metro project here during the quarter.

Nevertheless, it said the consolidated net worth stood at Rs.28,040 crore ($2.5 billion) translating into a book value of Rs.1,068 per share at the end of the quarter under review.

Among the other highlights, the company launched its cement in six states with a capacity of 5.8 million tonnes per annum, even as 77,500 new customers were added in the metros of Delhi and Mumbai in the second quarter.

In addition, the electricity tariff regulator in Delhi has approved a hike of 8.3 percent for Reliance Infra and approved the recovery of Rs.2,100 crore in arrears, including the carrying cost of power.

The company maintains its lead as being the largest private sector distributor of power in the country, serving 6.4 million customers.

The company reported its results after the close of trading hours. The stock was ruling at Rs.636.95 at close Wednesday, with a loss of Rs.6.40, or 0.99 percent. It had opened higher at Rs.647.70, touching a peak of Rs.648.30 intra-day.