MUMBAI: Lower telecasting and production expenses as well as a lower wage bill have helped SABTNL post a healthy RS 27.60 million as profit after tax for Q2 2002-3, a rise of over 275 per cent over a net of RS 7.35 million posted for the same period last year.

The company's income from operations however, shows a dip from RS 197.8 million in Q2 last year to RS 179.3 million in the quarter just ended. Other income too has nearly halved from RS 12.12 million in Q2 last year to RS 6.11 million in the quarter just ended. Domestic sales of software have however shown a n improvement this quarter over Q1 02 and continue to lead the figure of export sales by a wide margin - standing at RS 144.3 m over the export sales figure of RS 34.8 m.

The company that took over the channel business from Sabe TV during the current fiscal, has reported lower telecasting and production expenses as against the same quarter last year - down from RS 162.5 million to RS 113.6 million this year. Staff expenditure has also been lower this year - from RS 5.94 million in Q2 last year to RS 4.91 million in the quarter just ended.